Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Hard, arduous, full of hardship: Describes a state or condition involving great difficulty, suffering, or a lack of basic comforts. It implies enduring physical toil and mental distress.
   • Miserable, wretched: Describes a life or situation marked by severe poverty, unhappiness, or misfortune.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • Cuộc sống của họ trước đây rất khổ cực. (Their life before was very hard/miserable.)
  • Ông ấy đã trải qua một tuổi thơ khổ cực. (He endured a hard/wretched childhood.)
  • Công việc đồng áng thật khổ cực. (Farm work is truly arduous.)

Advanced Usage

• "sống khổ cực": to live a life of hardship/to live in misery.
  • Nhiều người dân phải sống khổ cực sau chiến tranh. (Many people had to live in misery after the war.)
• "khổ cực lam lũ": an idiom emphasizing relentless toil and hardship, often in manual labor.
  • Người nông dân khổ cực lam lũ quanh năm trên đồng ruộng. (The farmer toils relentlessly year-round in the fields.)

Variants and Related Words

• Cực khổ (adj): A variant with the same meaning and usage as khổ cực. (Hard, arduous, miserable).
• Khốn khổ (adj): Wretched, distressed, pitiful. Often implies a state of being troubled or in a plight.
• Vất vả (adj): Hard, laborious, tough. Focuses more on the aspect of exertion and effort rather than deep misery.
• Nhọc nhằn (adj): Arduous, strenuous, toilsome. Emphasizes physical fatigue.

Synonyms

• Gian khó: Difficult, full of trials.
• Cơ cực: Destitute, extremely poor and difficult.
• Lầm than: Miserable and suffering (often on a societal scale).

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

Note: As an adjective, khổ cực does not form phrasal verbs. Its meaning is expressed through verb-adjective combinations. - Chịu khổ cực: to endure/suffer hardship. - Bà ấy đã chịu khổ cực cả đời để nuôi con. (She endured hardship her whole life to raise her children.) - Trải qua khổ cực: to go through hardship. - Họ đã cùng nhau trải qua bao khổ cực. (They went through so much hardship together.)

Related Idioms

• "Khổ cực trăm bề": Hardship in every aspect, facing countless difficulties.
  • Sau trận lũ, cuộc sống người dân khổ cực trăm bề. (After the flood, the people's life was full of hardships in every way.)
• "Đầu tắt mặt tối": (Literally: head extinguished, face dark). An idiom describing a life of constant, exhausting work, closely related to the concept of khổ cực.
  • Họ làm việc đầu tắt mặt tối để kiếm sống. (They work from dawn till dusk to make a living.)

1. như cực khổ