khổ cực
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- 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.)
- như cực khổ