苦しい
Meanings, readings, and example sentences for the Japanese word 苦しい
1
painful; difficult; tough; hard
Examples
苦しい、やめろ。
It's so painful. Stop it!
2
distressing; (psychologically) difficult; stressful; awkward (e.g. position)
Examples
彼は過去の苦しい生活を黙想した。
He meditated on his past life of suffering.
3
straitened (circumstances); tight (financial situation); needy; struggling
Examples
彼の家族はかなり生活が苦しい。
His family is rather badly off.
4
strained (interpretation, explanation, etc.); lame (e.g. excuse); forced (e.g. smile); far-fetched
5
Suffix; After -masu stem of verb; often ぐるしい
hard to do; unpleasant
Kanji in this Word
苦
8 strokes
Frequency: 623
JLPT N2
Grade 3
Meanings
suffering
trial
worry
hardship
feel bitter
scowl
Readings
On
— Chinese-derived reading, usually for compounds
ク
Kun
— Native Japanese reading, usually for standalone words
くる.しい
-ぐる.しい
くる.しむ
くる.しめる
にが.い
にが.る
📝
Build your Vocabulary
Add words to your personal quiz list and master them using our spaced-repetition system. Practice makes perfect!
