Meaning of 酷
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- ruthless
- strong (e.g. of wine)
- (loanword) cool
- hip
How to use 酷
Today 酷 is most often used as a loanword for English "cool", meaning stylish or impressive, especially among young people. In compounds like 残酷 (cánkù) and 冷酷 (lěngkù) it keeps its older sense of harsh or cruel. Example: 你的新鞋真酷。(Nǐ de xīn xié zhēn kù.) Your new shoes are really cool.
酷 has 酉 (yǒu), the wine jar, on the left and 告 (gào) on the right. Picture a wine jar so strong it announces itself, which fits the old sense of strong wine and the harsh, intense meanings.
Common mistake: Learners sometimes write 告 on the right as 吉 or confuse 酷 with 醋 (cù, vinegar), which shares the 酉 side. Also, 酷 means cool in style, not cool in temperature; for chilly weather use 凉快 (liángkuai).
酷 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
酷 kù · ruthless · 14 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 酷.
Questions about 酷
What does 酷 mean?
酷 (kù) means "ruthless; strong (e.g. of wine)" and is used as a adjective.
How do you write 酷?
酷 is made of 1 character: 酷 (14 strokes). That is 14 strokes in total.
Is 酷 an HSK word?
Yes. 酷 is on the HSK 6 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How do you say "so cool" in Chinese slang?
People say 太酷了 (tài kù le) or 好酷 (hǎo kù). Some also use 酷毙了 (kù bì le), a playful way to say something is extremely cool.
What does 酷 mean in 酷暑 or 酷热?
Here 酷 means extreme or intense, so 酷暑 (kùshǔ) is the scorching height of summer and 酷热 (kùrè) is brutal heat. This is the same intensity idea found in 酷似 (kùsì), to strikingly resemble.