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刻苦耐勞

简刻苦耐劳 · 繁刻苦耐勞

Mandarin · pinyin kè kǔ nài láo

to bear hardships and work hard (idiom); assiduous and long-suffering
hard-working and capable of overcoming adversity

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Characters in this entry

刻: kè · carve, engrave; quarter hour
苦: kǔ · bitter; hardship, suffering
耐: nài · endure, bear; resist; patient
勞: Look up this written character
劳: láo · labor, toil, do manual work

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

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Mandarin tones

4–3–4–2 · ke4 ku3 nai4 lao2

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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.

刻苦耐勞 · find source passages ↗ · 刻苦耐劳 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

hak1 fu2 noi6 lou4

Cantonese word readings for 刻苦耐勞. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to bear hardship and work hard

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

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