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良藥苦口

简良药苦口 · 繁良藥苦口

Mandarin · pinyin liáng yào kǔ kǒu

good medicine tastes bitter (idiom); fig. frank criticism is hard to swallow

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Characters in this entry

良: liáng · good, virtuous, respectable
藥: Look up this written character
苦: kǔ · bitter; hardship, suffering
口: kǒu · mouth; open end; entrance, gate
药: yào · leaf of Dahurian angelica plant; medicine

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

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Mandarin tones

2–4–3–3 · liang2 yao4 ku3 kou3

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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.

良藥苦口 · find source passages ↗ · 良药苦口 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

loeng4 joek6 fu2 hau2

Cantonese word readings for 良藥苦口. 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

(figuratively) good advice may be uncomfortable to hear

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

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