苦力

Chinese

		bitter; intensely; miserable bitter; intensely; miserable; painful	power; force; strength
trad. (苦力)		苦	力
simp. #(苦力)		苦	力

Etymology

Possibly a phono-semantic matching of Hindi क़ुली (qulī) or its cognates.

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): kǔlì

  (Zhuyin): ㄎㄨˇ ㄌㄧˋ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): fu² lik⁶
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): khú-li̍t
• Southern Min (Hokkien, POJ): khó͘-lia̍k / khó͘-le̍k / khó͘-la̍t / ku-lí / khó͘-lo̍h

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: kǔlì
    • Zhuyin: ㄎㄨˇ ㄌㄧˋ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: kǔlì
    • Wade–Giles: kʻu³-li⁴
    • Yale: kǔ-lì
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: kuulih
    • Palladius: кули (kuli)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kʰu²¹⁴⁻²¹ li⁵¹/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
    • Jyutping: fu² lik⁶
    • Yale: fú lihk
    • Cantonese Pinyin: fu² lik⁹
    • Guangdong Romanization: fu² lig⁶
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /fuː³⁵ lɪk̚²/
• Hakka
  • (Sixian, incl. Miaoli and Meinong)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: khú-li̍t
    • Hakka Romanization System: ku` lid
    • Hagfa Pinyim: ku³ lid⁶
    • Sinological IPA: /kʰu³¹ lit̚⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khó͘-lia̍k
    • Tâi-lô: khóo-lia̍k
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qofliak
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kʰɔ⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ liak̚²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khó͘-le̍k
    • Tâi-lô: khóo-li̍k
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qoflek
    • IPA (Taipei, Xiamen): /kʰɔ⁵³⁻⁴⁴ liɪk̚⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /kʰɔ⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ liɪk̚⁴/
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kʰɔ⁵³⁻⁴⁴ liɪk̚¹²¹/
  • (Hokkien: Quanzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khó͘-la̍t
    • Tâi-lô: khóo-la̍t
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qoflat
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kʰɔ⁵⁵⁴⁻²⁴ lat̚²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: General Taiwanese, Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: ku-lí
    • Tâi-lô: ku-lí
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kulie
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /ku⁴⁴⁻²² li⁵³/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /ku⁴⁴⁻³³ li⁴¹/
    • IPA (Taipei): /ku⁴⁴⁻³³ li⁵³/
  • (Hokkien: variant in Taiwan)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: khó͘-lo̍h
    • Tâi-lô: khóo-lo̍h
    • Phofsit Daibuun: qofloih
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /kʰɔ⁴¹⁻⁴⁴ lɤʔ⁴/
    • IPA (Taipei): /kʰɔ⁵³⁻⁴⁴ loʔ⁴/

Noun

苦力

1. labor; hard work
2. (historical) coolie; laborer

Synonyms

• (coolie): (Cantonese) 咕喱 (gu1 lei1)
• (coolie): (Teochew) 龜里 (ku-lí), 龜理／龟理 (ku-lí), 咕哩 (ko͘-li)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
苦	力
くー Grade: 3	りー Grade: 1
irregular

Etymology

Ateji (当て字).
Borrowed from Mandarin 苦力 (kǔlì).

Pronunciation

• (Tokyo) ク​ーリー [kúꜜùrìì] (Atamadaka – [1])
• IPA^(key): [kɯ̟ᵝːɾʲiː]

Noun

苦力(クーリー) • (kūrī) 

1. a coolie