Kanji N1

酷: cruel, severe, atrocious

酷 is a JLPT N1 kanji meaning cruel, severe, atrocious, written with 14 strokes. It is read コク (on) and ひどい (kun). It is one of the jōyō kanji taught in secondary school. You will see it in 残酷 (ざんこく, cruel) and 冷酷 (れいこく, cruelty).

酷

Meanings

  • cruel
  • severe
  • atrocious
  • unjust
Strokes14
JLPT levelN1
School gradeSecondary school
Frequency#1596 of 2,500

On reading · Kun reading

On reading
  • コク

On'yomi: from Chinese, written in katakana. Used in compound words.

Kun reading
  • ひどい

Kun'yomi: native Japanese, in hiragana. The faint part is the okurigana, written in kana after the kanji.

Watch the stroke order

Every stroke in order, the live one in vermilion. Replay as often as you like.

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Now draw it

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Your turn: draw stroke 1 of 14. Start at the dot.

Common words with 酷

The most useful words written with it, easiest first. Every other kanji in them opens its own page.

  • 残酷ざんこく

    cruel; brutal; ruthless; merciless; inhuman

    JLPT N1
  • 冷酷れいこく

    cruelty; coldheartedness; relentless; ruthless

    JLPT N1
  • 酷いひどい

    cruel; heartless; hard; harsh; severe

    JLPT N4
  • 過酷かこく

    severe; harsh; hard; cruel; rigorous

  • 酷似こくじ

    resembling closely; being strikingly similar

  • 酷こく

    severe; harsh; stringent; rigorous; strict

  • 酷暑こくしょ

    intense heat; severe heat

  • 酷評こくひょう

    severe criticism; sharp criticism

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Stroke order from KanjiVG © Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0. Readings, meanings and words from KANJIDIC2 and JMdict, names from JMnedict, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata, CC0. JLPT lists after Jonathan Waller (tanos.co.uk), CC BY.