Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Arduous, full of hardship: Describes a situation, process, or period that involves great difficulty, suffering, and requires much effort and endurance to overcome.
   • Hard, toilsome: Characterizes work, life, or conditions that are extremely challenging and demanding.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Những năm tháng chiến tranh thật gian khổ. (The war years were truly arduous.)
  • Họ đã trải qua một hành trình gian khổ để đến được đây. (They went through a hardship-filled journey to get here.)
  • Công việc này rất gian khổ nhưng cũng đầy ý nghĩa. (This work is very toilsome but also meaningful.)

Advanced Usage

• "sự gian khổ" (noun phrase): The state or quality of being arduous; hardship.
  • Họ đã vượt qua mọi sự gian khổ. (They overcame all hardships.)
• "gian khổ cực nhọc": An intensified phrase emphasizing extreme hardship and toil.
  • Đời sống gian khổ cực nhọc của người nông dân. (The extremely arduous and toilsome life of the farmers.)

Variants and Related Words

• Gian nan (adj): Difficult, perilous. Often used similarly but can imply more danger or obstacles.
  • con đường gian nan (a perilous road)
• Khổ cực (adj): Hard, miserable, suffering. Focuses more on the suffering aspect.
  • cuộc sống khổ cực (a hard/miserable life)
• Vất vả (adj): Laborious, hard-working, taxing. Often describes the feeling of exhaustion from hard work.
  • làm việc vất vả (to work laboriously)

Synonyms

• Vất vả: Laborious, strenuous.
• Cực nhọc: Toilsome, back-breaking.
• Nhọc nhằn: Wearisome, arduous.

Common Collocations and Phrases

• Cuộc sống gian khổ: An arduous life.
• Công việc gian khổ: Arduous work.
• Chiến đấu gian khổ: To fight through hardships.
• Thử thách gian khổ: An arduous challenge.
• Quá trình gian khổ: A grueling process.

1. Arduous. hardship