| 良药苦口 |
liáng yào kǔ kǒu |
good medicine tastes bitter (idiom); fig. frank criticism is hard to swallow |
| 良 |
liáng |
good / very / very much |
| 良药 |
liáng yào |
good medicine / panacea / fig. a good solution / a good remedy (e.g. to a social problem) |
| 药 |
yào |
leaf of the iris / variant of 药 |
| 药 |
yào |
medicine / drug / substance used for a specific purpose (e.g. poisoning, explosion, fermenting) / CL:种,服,味 / to poison |
| 苦 |
kǔ |
bitter / hardship / pain / to suffer / to bring suffering to / painstakingly |
| 苦口 |
kǔ kǒu |
lit. bitter taste (cf good medicine tastes bitter 良药苦口) / fig. earnestly (of warning, advice) |
| 口 |
kǒu |
mouth / classifier for things with mouths (people, domestic animals, cannons, wells etc) / classifier for bites or mouthfuls |