Kanji

Jōyō kanji, Taught in grade 3

JLPT level: N3

623 of 2500 most used kanji in newspapers

Stroke count: 8

Meaning: suffering, trial, worry, hardship, feel bitter, scowl

Kunyomi: くる.しい -ぐる.しい くる.しむ くる.しめる にが.い にが.る

Onyomi:

Composition:

Radical

Radical:

Reading: くさかんむり

Meaning: grass

Strokes: 3

Examples

Examples with audio

労する(くろうする)   suffer, toil

悩する(くのうする)   agonize, be in anguish

心する(くしんする)   make an effort, take pains

笑する(くしょうする)   smile bitterly

痛(くつう)   pain

情(くじょう)   complaint

しい(くるしい)   painful

い(にがい)   bitter

手な(にがてな)   poor (at)

Onyomi Examples

pain, anguish, suffering, distress, anxiety, worry, trouble, difficulty, hardship, duhkha (suffering)

クキョウ difficult situation, adverse circumstances, predicament, trouble, dilemma, distress

生活 セイカツク life's struggles

ビョウク pain of sickness

Kunyomi Examples

しい くるしい painful, difficult, tough, hard, distressing, (psychologically) difficult, stressful, awkward (e.g. position), straitened (circumstances), tight (financial situation), needy, struggling, strained (interpretation, explanation, etc.), lame (e.g. excuse), forced (e.g. smile), far-fetched, hard to do, unpleasant

しい言い訳 くるしいいいわけ lame excuse, poor excuse

しむ くるしむ to suffer, to groan, to be worried

しめる くるしめる to torment, to pain, to inflict (physical) pain, to hurt, to harass, to cause (emotional) pain, to afflict, to distress, to bother, to trouble, to stump, to baffle

にがい bitter

い薬 にがいくすり bitter medicine

にがる to feel bitter, to scowl