Chinese symbol for “harsh”
苛刻
kē kè
harsh; severe; demanding
The closest CC-CEDICT match for harsh is 苛刻 (kē kè), defined as: harsh; severe; demanding.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Other Chinese words for “harsh”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 残酷 (殘酷) | cán kù | cruel; harsh; merciless |
| 尖酸 | jiān suān | harsh; scathing |
| 粗暴 | cū bào | crude; crass; rude; rough; harsh |
| 虐 | nüè | (bound form) brutal; oppressive; harsh; (literary) disaster; catastrophe |
| 凶巴巴 | xiōng bā bā | harsh; savage |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 苛刻.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 严苛 (嚴苛) | yán kē | severe; harsh |
| 苛求 | kē qiú | demanding |
| 苛责 (苛責) | kē zé | to criticize harshly; to excoriate |
| 苛捐杂税 (苛捐雜稅) | kē juān zá shuì | exorbitant taxation (idiom) |
| 苛性 | kē xìng | caustic (chemistry) |
| 时刻 (時刻) | shí kè | time; juncture |
| 立刻 | lì kè | immediately; at once; right away |
| 深刻 | shēn kè | profound; deep |
See also: Japanese symbol for “harsh”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.