Dictionary › 吃苦头

吃苦头

chī kǔ tou

3-character word Traditional 吃苦頭

What 吃苦头 means

1. to suffer
2. to suffer for one's actions
3. to pay dearly
4. to burn one's fingers

The characters in 吃苦头

• 吃chīto eat; to consume; to eat at (a cafeteria etc); to eradicate; to destroy
• 苦kǔbitter; hardship; pain
• 头tóuhead; hair style; the top

Example sentences

• 好奇会吃苦头的。
  Hàoqí huì chīkǔtou de.
  Curiosity killed the cat.
• 我们上班时的情绪，就像坐过山车一样 ﹣ 老板脸上一现出不悦的神色，我们就要吃苦头；老板脸上有了笑容，我们才能松一口气。这样的工作，我不想再干下去了。
  Wǒmen shàngbān shí de qíngxù, jiù xiàng zuò guòshānchē yīyàng ﹣ lǎobǎn liǎn shàng yī xiàn chū bù yuè de shénsè, wǒmen jiùyào chīkǔtou; lǎobǎn liǎn shàng yǒule xiàoróng, wǒmen cáinéng sōngyīkǒuqì. zhèyàng de gōngzuò, wǒ bù xiǎng zài gàn xiàqù le.
  I can't keep this up. It's an emotional roller coaster around here and all we have to do is look at the boss's face to know whether everybody is going to be happy or sad.