TongTong
Sign in

辛苦 (xīn kǔ) — (adjective) exhausting, hard, arduous; (verb) to go to a lot of trouble, to work hard (often in polite expressions like 辛苦了)

Definition

Use 辛苦 when something takes a lot of effort and feels tiring — more emphatic than 累 ('tired'), which is just the feeling. Also a fixed polite phrase: 辛苦了 after someone works for you. 艰苦 / 艰辛 describe hard conditions, not effort itself.

adjective
exhaustinghardarduous
verb
to go to a lot of troubleto work hard (often in polite expressions like 辛苦了)

Examples

  • 辛苦。
    Xué xí hàn yǔ hěn xīn kǔ.
    Learning Chinese is very hard.
  • 辛苦，。
    Zhè cì lǚ xíng zhēn xīn kǔ, dàn shì hěn kāi xīn.
    This trip was really exhausting, but I had a great time.
  • 辛苦，。
    xīn kǔ Nǐ le, bāng wǒ ná yí xià xíng li.
    Thanks for your trouble — help me carry the luggage.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

辛xīnhard/bitter
苦kǔbitter/hard

辛 (hard/bitter) and 苦 (bitter/hard) join to describe toil and hardship.

Characters in this word

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The oldest forms of 辛 drew a newly grown tree shoot. The shape was later also read as a sharp marking tool, but that reading may come from confusing it with another character.

Open 辛 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艸艸cǎograss
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ苦kǔ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The top 艸 shows grass or plants, matching the sense of bitter plants. The bottom 古 gives the sound.

Open 苦 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 4HSK 2.0 Level 4Greetings & PolitenessWorkplace & Office3000 Most Frequent Chinese Words5000 Most Frequent Chinese Words

Browse more HSK 4 words or search the full 43,000-word dictionary.