苦
- suffering, pain;
Etymology
A phono-semantic compound character combining:
艸 (초, “grass”) - provides the meaning (plants, herbs);
古 (고, “old”) - provides the sound.
Because many plants taste bitter, the character came to mean “(taste is) bitter.”
From this literal meaning, it expanded metaphorically to signify “to suffer,” “to be in pain,” “to endure hardship.”
Alternative forms
𦹵, 𦹯
radicalno: 140
addcomponents: 艸 +6 in traditional Chinese
strokes: 9
cangjieinput1: 廿十口 (TJR)
composition1: ⿱ 艹 古