受苦

• Pinyin: shòu kǔ
• Hanzi breakdown: 受 = 爪 + 冖 + 又 (hands passing — to receive/bear); 苦 = 艹 + 古 (grass + ancient — a bitter plant; bitterness, hardship)

Meaning

To suffer hardship; to endure pain, privation, or misery.

A verb phrase meaning 'to receive/bear bitterness/suffering'. Can refer to physical pain, material deprivation, or psychological anguish. Implies a sustained experience of suffering rather than a momentary hurt. Often used to express empathy or describe someone going through a prolonged ordeal. Closely related to 吃苦 (to endure hardship — often implies stoic tolerance as a positive trait, used for difficult effort or deprivation) and 受罪 (to suffer; to be tortured — more emphatic, suggests particularly acute or unjust suffering).

Examples

1. 她照顾晚期癌症父亲三年，亲眼看着亲人在病痛中受苦，这也促使她投身姑息治疗研究。 She cared for her father with terminal cancer for three years and watched a loved one suffer through illness, which later drove her into palliative care research.
2. 结构性不平等造成的群体受苦，不该被看作命运，而应被视为需要制度纠正的不公。 Group suffering caused by structural inequality should not be seen as fate, but as an injustice that needs institutional correction.
3. 在极端主义煽动下，长期在贫困中受苦的年轻人最容易被报复叙事吸引。 Under extremist incitement, young people who have long suffered in poverty are most easily drawn to narratives of revenge.

Usage Guide

Context: health, social issues, philosophy, family, politics

Tone: empathetic

Do Say

• 战争不是抽象数字，而是无数家庭在流离失所中受苦的历史，任何美化战争的叙事都是背叛。(War is not abstract numbers, but the history of countless families suffering through displacement, and any narrative that glorifies war is a betrayal.)
• 慢性疼痛患者长期受苦常被低估甚至否认，这种社会和医疗层面的忽视比疼痛更难承受。(The long-term suffering of chronic pain patients is often underestimated or even denied, and this neglect from society and medicine can be harder to bear than the pain itself.)

Don't Say

• 受苦 interchangeably with 吃苦 in all contexts — 吃苦 often carries a positive connotation of enduring hardship through one's own effort and building character (e.g., 吃苦耐劳 — hard-working and enduring), whereas 受苦 is neutral to negative and focuses on the experience of being subjected to suffering, often without choice or benefit; use 吃苦 for stoic voluntary endurance, 受苦 for involuntary or unjust suffering

Origin & History

受 (to bear; to be subjected to) + 苦 (bitterness; hardship; suffering — 艹 grass + 古 ancient, originally depicting a bitter-tasting plant)

Cultural Context

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal