苦練

简 苦练 · 繁 苦練
Mandarin · pinyin kǔ liàn

Meanings

  1. to train hard
  2. to practice diligently
  3. hard work
  4. blood, sweat, and tears
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Characters in this entry

苦
kǔ · bitter; hardship, suffering
練
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练
liàn · to practice, drill, exercise, train
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

3–4 · ku3 lian4

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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.

苦練 · find source passages ↗ · 苦练 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

fu2 lin6

Cantonese word readings for 苦練. 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.

verb

  1. to train hard; to practice diligently

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

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack