| 苦活 | kǔ huó | bitter work; sweated labor |
| 苦活儿 | kǔ huór | erhua variant of 苦活, bitter work; sweated labor |
苦海无边，
回头是岸 | kǔ hǎi wú biān ,
huí tóu shì àn | The sea of bitterness has no bounds, turn your head to see the shore (idiom). Only Buddhist enlightenment can allow one to shed off the abyss of worldly suffering.; Repent and ye shall be saved! |
| 苦海茫茫 | kǔ hǎi máng máng | sea of bitterness is vast (idiom) |
| 苦熬 | kǔ áo | to endure (years of suffering) |
| 苦瓜 | kǔ guā | bitter melon (bitter gourd, balsam pear, balsam apple, leprosy gourd, bitter cucumber) |
| 苦瓜脸 | kǔ guā liǎn | sour expression on one's face |
| 苦甘 | kǔ gān | bitter sweet |
| 苦尽甘来 | kǔ jìn gān lái | bitterness finishes, sweetness begins (idiom); the hard times are over, the good times just beginning |
| 苦竹 | kǔ zhú | bitter bamboo (Pleioblastus amarus) |
| 苦肉计 | kǔ ròu jì | feigning self-injury to win confidence; confidence game; CL:条 |
| 苦胆 | kǔ dǎn | gall bladder |
| 苦艾 | kǔ ài | wormwood; Artemisia absinthium |
| 苦艾酒 | kǔ ài jiǔ | absinthe (distilled anise-based liquor) |
| 苦苓 | kǔ líng | chinaberry (Melia azedarach) |
| 苦苣 | kǔ jù | endive |
| 苦苦哀求 | kǔ kǔ āi qiú | to entreat piteously; to implore |
| 苦菊 | kǔ jú | endive |
| 苦菜花 | kǔ cài huā | Bitter cauliflower, 1954 socialist realist novel by Feng Deying 冯德英 loosely based on Maxim Gorky's Mother, made into a 1967 film by Li Ang |
| 苦蘵 | kǔ zhí | cutleaf ground-cherry; Physalis angulata |
| 苦行 | kǔ xíng | ascetic practice |
| 苦行赎罪 | kǔ xíng shú zuì | penance (to atone for a sin) |
| 苦谏 | kǔ jiàn | to admonish strenuously |
| 苦趣 | kǔ qù | wretched feelings (opposite: 乐趣, delight) |
| 苦迭打 | kǔ dié dǎ | coup d'état (loanword) |
| 苦集灭道 | kǔ jí miè dào | the Four Noble Truths (Budd.), namely: all life is suffering 苦, the cause of suffering is desire 集, emancipation comes only by eliminating passions 灭, the way 道 to emancipation is the Eight-fold Noble Way 八正道; also called 四谛 |
| 苦难深重 | kǔ nàn shēn zhòng | deep grief; extensive sorrow |
