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辛苦

Mandarin · pinyin xīn kǔ

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Characters in this entry

辛: xīn · bitter; toilsome, laborious; 8th heavenly stem; Kangxi radical 160
苦: kǔ · bitter; hardship, suffering

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

1–3 · xin1 ku3

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 4 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

san1 fu2

Cantonese word readings for 辛苦. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

adj

laborious; hard; miserable; exhausting
(Cantonese, Nanning Pinghua) uncomfortable

verb

to work hard; to toil; to go through hardship
(polite) to trouble; to bother (often used to thank someone for assistance; can be used for general assistance over time or a specific act)

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

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