Chinese symbol for “suffering”
苦难
kǔ nàn
Traditional: 苦難
suffering
The closest CC-CEDICT match for suffering is 苦难 (kǔ nàn), defined as: suffering.
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
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “suffering”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 忧患 (憂患) | yōu huàn | suffering; misery |
| 苦楚 | kǔ chǔ | suffering; misery |
| 痛苦 | tòng kǔ | pain; suffering |
| 苦处 (苦處) | kǔ chu | suffering; distress |
| 楚 | chǔ | distinct; clear |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 苦难.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 痛苦 | tòng kǔ | pain; suffering |
| 辛苦 | xīn kǔ | exhausting; hard |
| 艰苦 (艱苦) | jiān kǔ | difficult; hard |
| 苦恼 (苦惱) | kǔ nǎo | vexed; distressed |
| 受苦 | shòu kǔ | to suffer hardship |
| 困难 (困難) | kùn nan | difficult; challenging |
| 难道 (難道) | nán dào | don't tell me ...; could it be that...? |
| 难以 (難以) | nán yǐ | hard to (predict, imagine etc) |
See also: Japanese symbol for “suffering”.
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.