酷 (kù): ruthless, strong (e.g. of wine), (loanword) cool
酷 (kù) is a Chinese character meaning “ruthless.” Classified as HSK Level 6 (HSK 3.0 Standard, CLEC 2022), it is composed of 酉 (semantic) and 告 (phonetic). It ranks #1848 in character frequency (SUBTLEX-CH corpus).
Etymologically derived, 酷 wine. Its radical form 酉 (wine) appears in many related characters such as 配 (pèi, to join), 酸 (suān, sour), 醒 (xǐng, to wake up).
Definitions
- ruthless
- strong (e.g. of wine)
- (loanword) cool
Etymology & Origin
Stroke Order
Practice writing 酷 with real-time feedback — trace each stroke in the correct order and build muscle memory in the HanziFeed app.
Words & Compounds
Common Compounds
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 残酷adjective | cán kù | cruel |
| 冷酷adjective | lěng kù | unfeeling |
| 酷刑noun | kù xíng | cruelty |
| 严酷adjective | yán kù | bitter |
| 酷爱verb | kù ài | to be keen on |
| 酷热adjective | kù rè | torrid heat |
| 残酷无情 | cán kù wú qíng | cruel and unfeeling (idiom) |
| 酷似verb | kù sì | to strikingly resemble |
| 酷暑noun | kù shǔ | intense heat |
| 冷酷无情 | lěng kù wú qíng | cold-hearted |
| 酷斯拉 | kù sī lā | (Tw) Godzilla |
| 反酷刑折磨公约 | fǎn kù xíng zhé mó gōng yuē | UN convention against torture and cruel treatment (ratified by PRC in 1988) |
| 酷儿noun | kù ér | queer (sexuality) |
| 酷派 | kù pài | Coolpad Group Ltd, Chinese company |
| 跑酷noun | pǎo kù | (loanword) parkour |
酷 appears in 27 compound words: 56 as the first character, 30 as the last, and 15 in a middle position. Compound statistics computed from SUBTLEX-CH and HSK 3.0 vocabulary data.
Strongest Collocations
Characters that most frequently co-occur with 酷 in natural Chinese text, ranked by NPMI (Normalized Pointwise Mutual Information) — a statistical measure of association strength.
Example Sentences
酷字在日常生活中使用频率较低。
kù zì zài rì cháng shēng huó zhōng shǐ yòng pín lǜ jiào dī .
The character "酷" is not frequently used in everyday life.
酷澎个资外泄!只赔千元折价券挨批没诚意 律...
kù péng gè zī wài xiè ! zhī péi qiān yuán zhé jià quàn āi pī méi chéng yì lǜ . . .
Cool Peng's personal information leaked! Only pay 1,000 yuan discount coupons and be criticized for not being sincere...
韩国电商酷澎个资事件波及20万台湾帐号! 每名用户...
hán guó diàn shāng kù péng gè zī shì jiàn bō jí 2 0 wàn tái wān zhàng hào ! měi míng yòng hù . . .
The personal information incident of South Korean e-commerce Kupeng affected 200,000 Taiwanese accounts! per user...
年后开学采购即时到位 Coupang酷澎火箭速配隔日到货
nián hòu kāi xué cǎi gòu jí shí dào wèi C o u p a n g kù péng huǒ jiàn sù pèi gé rì dào huò
After the start of the year, the purchase was immediately in place, and Coupang's Coupang rocket speed dating arrived the next day
落马洲5只狗疑中毒亡警方列“残酷对待动物”跟进
luò mǎ zhōu 5 zhī gǒu yí zhōng dú wáng jǐng fāng liè cán kù duì dài dòng wù gēn jìn
5 dogs in Lok Ma Chau were suspected of being poisoned and died, and the police listed "cruelty to animals" to follow up
落马洲5地盘狗只疑中毒连环死亡 警列“残酷对待动物”调查未有人被捕
luò mǎ zhōu 5 dì pán gǒu zhī yí zhōng dú lián huán sǐ wáng jǐng liè cán kù duì dài dòng wù diào chá wèi yǒu rén bèi bǔ
Dogs suspected of being poisoned and killed in a series of deaths at 5 sites in Lok Ma Chau No one was arrested during the investigation of "cruelty to animals"
你是怎么避开这酷暑的？
Nǐ shì zěnme bìkāi zhè kùshǔ de?
How are you keeping off this intense heat?
这个女孩酷似她的母亲。
Zhège nǚhái kùsì tā de mǔqīn.
The girl resembles her mother.
我不忍目睹这种残酷的行径。
Wǒ bù rěn mùdǔ zhèzhǒng cánkù de xíngjìng.
I cannot abide to see such cruelty.
因为酷暑一直持续着，请务必注意食物中毒。
Yīnwèi kùshǔ yīzhí chíxù zhe, qǐng wùbì zhùyì shíwùzhòngdú.
Hot weather will continue, so please watch out for food poisoning.
Character Family
Semantic Family — Characters sharing the 酉 (wine) component
Frequently Asked Questions
What does 酷 (kù) mean in Chinese?
What's the difference between 酷 and 淡?
How many strokes does 酷 have?
What is the radical of 酷?
What are the components of 酷?
What are common words containing 酷?
What characters sound the same as 酷 (kù)?
Is 酷 the same in simplified and traditional Chinese?
Practice writing 酷 with real-time feedback
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