寒窗苦读
hán chuāng kǔ dú
to study hard for years, in hardship and obscurity
Character by character
寒hán
cold
cold
窗chuāng
window
window
苦kǔ
bitter
bitter
读dú
study
study
Example
他寒窗苦读十几年，终于拿到了博士学位。
After more than ten years of hard, lonely study he finally got his doctorate.
Tone: positive (praise).
Usage and origin
The cold window is the poor scholar’s study in old China, where candidates prepared for the imperial exams. A close cousin of 十年寒窗 (lesson 1-7); today said of the gaokao, the postgraduate exam and long degrees.
Learn this in Lesson 180 · HSK 7–9: 毕业生的两条路 (Graduates at the crossroads)
A dialogue, a reading, word cards with audio and a drill that uses it, in Learn Chinese with Bao. This lesson is free.
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