苦差

kǔchāi

noun #24,600

Meanings

1 hard task
2 thankless chore
3 drudgery
4 arduous and unrewarding assignment

Characters

bitter / suffering / hard / painful

errand / assignment / official duty

Examples

整理档案是一项苦差，没有人愿意做。

Zhěnglǐ dàng'àn shì yī xiàng kǔchāi, méiyǒu rén yuànyì zuò.

Filing archives is a thankless chore that no one wants to do.

每天打扫公共厕所真是苦差。

Měitiān dǎsǎo gōnggòng cèsuǒ zhēnshi kǔchāi.

Cleaning public restrooms every day is truly drudgery.

Tips

memory

苦 (bitter/suffering) + 差 (assignment/errand) = a bitter task. 差 here means an assigned duty or mission, giving the sense of being ordered to do something unpleasant.

Stroke Order

苦 kǔ

差 chà