酷

酷 (Kangxi radical 164, 酉+7, 14 strokes, cangjie input 一田竹土口 (MWHGR), four-corner 1466₁, composition ⿰酉告)

• 𤐿

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1283, character 14
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 39870
• Dae Jaweon: page 1783, character 10
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 3583, character 10
• Unihan data for U+9177

Phono-semantic compound (形聲／形声, OC *kʰuːɡ) : semantic 酉 (“alcoholic drink vessel”) + phonetic 告 (OC *kuːɡs, *kuːɡ).

Original meaning was “cruel”. The sense “cool” is a phono-semantic matching of English cool.

酷

1. (literary, of alcohol) strong; intense
2. cruel; brutal; savage

   殘酷／残酷  ―  cánkù  ―  cruel

3. extremely; to an extreme degree

   酷愛／酷爱  ―  kù'ài  ―  to have a passion for; to ardently love

4. (Mandarin, slang) cool; awesome

Whilst English "cool" may be used in a wide variety of contexts, 酷 (and, by extension, 酷斃／酷毙 (kùbì)) is usually only used to describe something fashionable or extraordinary.

• 牛 (niú)
• 強／强 (qiáng)
• 絕／绝 (jué)

酷

1. (Quanzhou, Xiamen, Taiwanese and Philippine Hokkien, business) to drive a hard bargain; to economically take advantage of; to exploit economically; to penny-pinch; to profiteer; to swindle; to cheat; to be stingy/miserly with (such as overpricing to favor sellers or undervaluing to favor buyers)

• 啄 (tok / top)

• Embree, Bernard L.M. (1973) “khok”, in A Dictionary of Southern Min (overall work in Hokkien, English, and Mandarin), Hong Kong: Hong Kong Language Institute, page 160.
• 小川尚義 (OGAWA Naoyoshi), editor (1931–1932), “酷”, in 臺日大辭典 [Taiwanese-Japanese Dictionary]‎ (overall work in Hokkien and Japanese), Taihoku: Government-General of Taiwan, →OCLC, page 491
• 小川尚義 (OGAWA Naoyoshi), editor (1931–1932), “酷”, in 臺日大辭典 [Taiwanese-Japanese Dictionary]‎ (overall work in Hokkien and Japanese), Taihoku: Government-General of Taiwan, →OCLC, page 475
• 東方孝義 (TŌHŌ Takayoshi) (1931) “酷”, in 臺日新辭書 [New Taiwanese–Japanese dictionary] (overall work in Hokkien and Japanese), Taihoku: 臺灣警察協會, page 265
• 東方孝義 (TŌHŌ Takayoshi) (1931) “酷”, in 臺日新辭書 [New Taiwanese–Japanese dictionary] (overall work in Hokkien and Japanese), Taihoku: 臺灣警察協會, page 673
• The template Template:R:nan:Campbell does not use the parameter(s):

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  Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.William Campbell (1913) “tok (酷 Khok)”, in A dictionary of the Amoy vernacular spoken throughout the prefectures of Chin-Chiu, Chiang-Chiu and Formosa (in Hokkien), 8th edition, Tainan: Taiwan Church Press, published 1961, →OCLC, page 720.
• Douglas, Carstairs (1873) “tok”, in Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy, [With 1923 Supplement after the Appendix by Thomas Barclay, Shanghai: Commercial Press, Ltd.] edition (overall work in Hokkien and English), London: Trübner & Co., page 526; New Edition (With Chinese Character Glosses) edition, London: Presbyterian Church of England, 1899, page 526
• Douglas, Carstairs (1873) “khok”, in Chinese-English Dictionary of the Vernacular or Spoken Language of Amoy, [With 1923 Supplement after the Appendix by Thomas Barclay, Shanghai: Commercial Press, Ltd.] edition (overall work in Hokkien and English), London: Trübner & Co., page 283; New Edition (With Chinese Character Glosses) edition, London: Presbyterian Church of England, 1899, page 283

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

1. cruel, severe
2. extremely

• Go-on: こく (koku, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: こく (koku, Jōyō)
• Kun: きびしい (kibishii, 酷しい); はなはだ (hanahada, 酷だ); はなはだしい (hanahadashī, 酷だしい); ひどい (hidoi, 酷い); むごい (mugoi, 酷い)
• Nanori: あつ (atsu)

Ultimately from Middle Chinese 酷 (MC khowk). First cited in Japanese as a standalone term in 1754.[2]

• (Tokyo) こ​く [kóꜜkù] (Atamadaka – [1])[3]
• (Tokyo) こく​ [kòkúꜜ] (Odaka – [2])[3]
• IPA^(key): [ko̞kɯ̟ᵝ]

酷(こく) • (koku) ^{←こく (koku)?}-na (adnominal 酷(こく)な (koku na), adverbial 酷(こく)に (koku ni))

1. [from 1754] cruel, severe, harsh, merciless

   Synonyms: むごい (mugoi), 厳しい (kibishii)

2. [from 1878] extremely, excessively

   Synonym: 甚だしい (hanahadashii)

酷(こく) • (koku) 

1. [from 1754] cruelty, severity, harshness, mercilessness

From Middle Chinese 酷 (MC khowk).

Wikisource 酷 (eumhun 심할 혹 (simhal hok))

1. Hanja form^? of 혹 (“cruel”).

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

酷: Hán Nôm readings: khốc

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