Character: 苦
Modern (Beijing) reading: kǔ
Preclassic Old Chinese: khāʔ
Classic Old Chinese: khā́
Western Han Chinese: khā́
Eastern Han Chinese: khā́
Early Postclassic Chinese: khṓ
Middle Postclassic Chinese: khṓ
Late Postclassic Chinese: khṓ
Middle Chinese: khó
English meaning : be bitter
Russian meaning[s]: 1) горький; перен. тяжелый, трудный; страдание, мука; горе; бедность; мучиться, страдать; не переносить (напр. жары); тяжело работать; 2) упорно, настойчиво, всеми силами
Comments: Also used for a homonymous *khāʔ 'sow-thistle' (Sonchus oleraceus?). Viet. khó is colloquial (used only in the sense '(bitter) > hard, difficult' - existing also in Chinese); regular Sino-Viet. is khô`.
Radical: 140
Four-angle index: 1295
Karlgren code: 0049 u
Vietnamese reading: khó
Jianchuan Bai: khu1
Dali Bai: khu1
Bijiang Bai: qhü1
Shijing occurrences: 32.3_, 34.1, 35.2
