Emaki · all 1,500 words

苦しい

くるしい

painful, difficult

Mnemonic

Old 古 grass 艹 chewed down to the stalk, and your stomach after a third helping. Not sharp pain, just crushed, everything gone wrong in there: くるしい.

Worth knowing

難しい むずかしい is difficult to work out. 苦しい is difficult to bear. Near 詳しい くわしい in sound only.

Built from

bitter, painful
艹 grass + 古 old

Words sharing these kanji

hard to deal with, weak point difficulty, hardship

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Emaki is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Kaishi 1.5k or its authors. The word, reading and meaning come from the Kaishi 1.5k deck, used with their permission. The mnemonic, the note and the kanji breakdown are original work, published under CC BY-SA 4.0.