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

HSK 3

她苦心经营的计划被一场意外打乱了。

Tā kǔxīn-jīngyíng de jìhuà bèi yì chǎng yìwài dǎluàn le.

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

HSK 5

这家餐厅是他苦心经营了二十年的成果。

Zhè jiā cāntīng shì tā kǔxīn-jīngyíng le èrshí nián de chéngguǒ.

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

HSK 7-9

父亲苦心经营的小店,终于有了稳定的客源。

Fùqīn kǔxīn-jīngyíng de xiǎodiàn, zhōngyú yǒu le wěndìng de kèyuán.

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

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