Meaning

Primary

Painful

Alternative

Agonizing

Word Type

い adjective

Explanation

This word ends in , meaning you know it's probably an adjective. In fact, it ends in しい, which makes it even more likely it's an adjective. The kanji means suffering, so what could a related adjective be? This word means painful or agonizing.

Reading

くるしい
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

Explanation

Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you:

Everything is really painful right now. Why? You have something heavy on top of you, crushing (くる) you.

Context

Patterns of Use

Common Word Combinations

  • 心が苦しい

    in a state of mental anguish

    生活が苦しい

    life is difficult

    おなかが苦しい

    stomach feels uncomfortable

Context Sentences

食べすぎて苦しい。

I ate so much that I'm in pain.

正直に言うと、一ヶ月前くらいから、このジーンズ、苦しいんだ。

To be honest, I've been struggling with these jeans for around a month now.

村では、冬になると食べ物が不足して、村人はみんな苦しい生活を送っていました。

In the village, there was not enough food in winter, and all the villagers lived in hardship.

Kanji Composition