苦不聊生 — “Unable to sustain life due to bitter suffering”
苦不聊生 is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to live in utter misery and destitution, unable to make a living due to extreme hardship; to be in such distress that life is unbearable”. Literally, “unable to sustain life due to bitter suffering”.
苦不聊生 Pronunciation and Pinyin
苦不聊生 Character Breakdown
Stroke OrderExample Sentence with 苦不聊生
Idioms Related to 苦不聊生
More idioms starting with 苦
- kǔ苦bù不kě可yán言too bitter to tell
- kǔ苦bù不kān堪yán言too miserable to describe
- kǔ苦zhōng中zuò作lè乐find joy in suffering
- kǔ苦lè乐bù不jūn均unequal distribution of joys and sorrows
- kǔ苦lè乐zhī之jìng境realm of suffering and joy
- kǔ苦zhēng争è恶zhàn战fierce and arduous struggle
- kǔ苦kǒu口zhī之yào药unpleasant but beneficial advice
- kǔ苦kǒu口pó婆xīn心to advise earnestly and patiently
- kǔ苦kǒu口è恶shí石unpleasant but beneficial advice
- kǔ苦kǒu口liáng良yào药Good medicine tastes bitter but cures illness
- kǔ苦kǒu口nì逆ěr耳sincere advice that is unpleasant to hear
- kǔ苦dà大chóu仇shēn深immense suffering and deep hatred
Recommended tools
Picture Worksheets
Chinese and English fill-in vocabulary worksheets
Open the tool →
Bingo Cards
Picture and word Bingo for your class
Open the tool →
Stroke Order Animator
Turn a Chinese character or sentence into a GIF or MP4
Open the tool →
Chinese Text Image Generator
Create PNGs with pinyin, highlight character parts or remove strokes
Open the tool →Questions about 苦不聊生
What does 苦不聊生 mean?
苦不聊生 (kǔ bù liáo shēng) is a Chinese idiom (chengyu) meaning “to live in utter misery and destitution, unable to make a living due to extreme hardship; to be in such distress that life is unbearable”.
How do you pronounce 苦不聊生?
苦不聊生 is pronounced kǔ bù liáo shēng in Mandarin Chinese.
What does 苦不聊生 literally mean?
Literally, 苦不聊生 means “unable to sustain life due to bitter suffering”. It is used to mean “to live in utter misery and destitution, unable to make a living due to extreme hardship; to be in such distress that life is unbearable”.
What is the Chinese definition of 苦不聊生?
聊生：赖以维持生活。形容备受痛苦，无法生存