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含辛茹苦

Mandarin · pinyin hán xīn rú kǔ

to suffer every possible torment (idiom); bitter hardship
to bear one's cross

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Characters in this entry

含: hán · hold in mouth; cherish; contain
辛: xīn · bitter; toilsome, laborious; 8th heavenly stem; Kangxi radical 160
茹: rú · roots; vegetables; eat; bear
苦: kǔ · bitter; hardship, suffering

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1–2–3 · han2 xin1 ru2 ku3

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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 · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

ham4 san1 jyu4 fu2

Cantonese word readings for 含辛茹苦. 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.

phrase

(idiomatic) to suffer untold hardships (to bring up one's child); to endure sufferings

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

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