Word Meaning 四苦八苦

しくはっく shikuhakku

四苦八苦 is read as しくはっく (shikuhakku) and means the four and eight kinds of suffering (birth, old age, disease, death, parting from loved ones, meeting disliked ones, not getting what one seeks, pains of the five skandha).

Meaning

English

  1. the four and eight kinds of suffering (birth, old age, disease, death, parting from loved ones, meeting disliked ones, not getting what one seeks, pains of the five skandha)
  2. being in dire distress
  3. being hard put to it
  4. being hard pressed (for money)

Reading

Kana

しくはっく

Romaji

shikuhakku

Stroke Sequence

4 Characters • 23 Total Strokes

Study Signals and Categories

JLPT N3 Jōyō Grade 3 Kanken 8級 Yojijukugo Rank 19252 Priority D

Related Vocabulary

Max. 12

四重苦

よんじゅうく

four-fold hardship

四苦

しく

the four kinds of suffering (birth, old age, disease, death)

四通八達

しつうはったつ

traffic network extending in all directions

八苦

はっく

the eight kinds of suffering (birth, old age, disease, death, parting from loved ones, meeting disliked ones, not getting what one seeks, pains of the five skandha)

七難八苦

しちなんはっく

a series of disasters

四国八十八箇所

しこくはちじゅうはっかしょ

88 temples of Shikoku (holy spots related to Kobo Daishi)

四十八手

しじゅうはって

every trick in the book

四方八方

しほうはっぽう

in all directions

四球

しきゅう

four balls

四半期

しはんき

quarter (of a year)

四死球

ししきゅう

bases on balls and pitches striking the batsmen

Example Sentences

5

I had a very hard time writing the paper.

Sometimes I struggle to speak English.

A lot of students struggle with math in school.

Sometimes I struggle to speak French.

When I started using a computer I was taken in by Norton's CPU-hungry software and had a lot of trouble.