How to say "hardship" in Japanese
Choosing the right word
- 苦労くろうnoun, suru verb, transitive verb, intransitive verbHardship as the troubles and effort of daily life and work, such as bringing up children or earning a living; the everyday word, focusing on toil endured over time rather than a single crisis.せっかくの苦労もあだになった。↗All my pains went for nothing.
- 困難こんなんnoun, na-adjectiveHardship viewed as difficulty — a hard situation, task or obstacle to be overcome. The natural choice when the point is how difficult things are, not the suffering involved.
- 難なんnoun, noun (suffix)Standing alone this is a stiff, literary word; it mostly serves as a building block inside other words expressing difficulty, trouble or shortage, and is seldom the word you want for 'hardship'.
- 苦難くなんnounHardship as severe suffering — trials and adversity to be endured rather than everyday bother. Fits a difficult period of someone's life or a people's history; weightier and more solemn than 苦労.
- 辛苦しんくnoun, suru verb, intransitive verbHardship and toil, close in meaning to 苦労 but with a stiffer, more formal flavour; for ordinary conversation 苦労 is usually the better choice.
Choose 苦労 for the everyday troubles and toil of life and work, 困難 for hardship as difficulty or obstacles, 苦難 for severe trials and suffering, 辛苦 as a formal written-style near-synonym of 苦労, while 難 rarely stands alone.
Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only
Japanese equivalents
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