Cruel in Chinese
cruel · HSK 7–9
残酷
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- 残 incomplete
- 酷 cool
现实有时候很残酷。 Reality is sometimes very cruel.
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Other ways to say cruel
More words with 残 or 酷
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How do you say cruel in Chinese?
Cruel in Chinese is 残酷 (cán kù). You can also say 残忍 (cán rěn), 凶残 (xiōng cán), 酷 (kù), 残 (cán).
Which word should I use?
Start with the first one: it is the easiest on the HSK list. The others say it too, often in a more formal way or for a narrower sense; each one’s page has real sentences that show how it is used.
Where do these words come from?
Our own dictionary’s meanings for the official HSK word list. A word is shown for an English word when that is one of its first meanings; the easiest word whose first meaning it is comes first.
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Meanings from our own dictionary. Chinese often has more than one way to say a word.