Kilo Lingo

(tòng kǔ) - pain, suffering; painful in Mandarin

tòng

Traditional: 痛苦

Line drawing of 痛苦
Coloured illustration of 痛苦
HSK 4
#732 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

pain, suffering; painful

Word origin

A compound of 痛 (tòng) 'pain, ache' and 苦 (kǔ) 'bitter, hardship'. 痛 has the 疒 (sickness) radical with 甬 as phonetic; 苦 has the 艹 (grass) radical with 古 (gǔ) as phonetic, originally a bitter herb. Together they mean suffering.

Origin
compound
Root
痛 (tòng, pain: 疒 sickness + 甬) + 苦 (kǔ, bitter: 艹 grass + 古 phonetic)

Stroke order

Stroke order for 痛

Stroke order for 苦

Examples

He has been through a lot of pain.

Losing a loved one is painful.

Please tell me about your suffering.

War brings enormous suffering.

Losing family is a great pain.

Where this fits

Used in

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Mandarin · Free printables

痛苦: worksheet, infographic and listicle

Free printable study downloads for the Mandarin word "痛苦" (pain, suffering; painful): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.

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This word is part of lesson 15.