苦心经营

苦心經營

kǔxīn-jīngyíng

idiom #33,329

Meanings

1 to build something up through painstaking effort
2 to run an enterprise with great care and hardship

Characters

bitter; painstaking

heart; mind; effort

to manage; to go through

to operate; to run

Examples

这家餐厅是他苦心经营了二十年的成果。

Zhèjiā cāntīng shì tā kǔxīnjīngyíng le èrshí nián de chéngguǒ.

This restaurant is the fruit of twenty years of his painstaking effort.

父亲苦心经营的小店,终于有了稳定的客源。

Fùqīn kǔxīnjīngyíng de xiǎodiàn, zhōngyú yǒule wěndìng de kèyuán.

The small shop my father labored so hard to build finally has a steady customer base.

她苦心经营的计划被一场意外打乱了。

Tā kǔxīnjīngyíng de jìhuà bèi yì chǎng yìwài dǎluàn le.

The plan she had worked so hard to craft was thrown into disarray by an accident.

Tips

usage

Strongly positive in connotation when describing honest work (a business, a garden, a career). Use ironically when describing scheming (e.g. a plot 'carefully cultivated').

Stroke Order

苦 kǔ

心 xīn

经 jīng

营 yíng