noun, noun or participle which takes 'suru', intransitive verb
dire distress; great hardship; struggling desperately
Used for being in a very difficult situation, often with a nuance of struggling to cope. Common with する to mean 'struggle desperately' or 'be hard pressed'.
彼は借金で四苦八苦している。
He is struggling desperately with debt.
We had a hard time introducing the new system.
noun
the four and eight kinds of suffering (Buddhism)
Buddhist technical term referring to the four universal sufferings (birth, old age, sickness, death) and eight sufferings (the four plus parting from loved ones, meeting disliked ones, not getting what one seeks, and the pains of the five skandhas). Rare outside religious contexts.
仏教では、四苦八苦は人間の根本的な苦しみを表す。
In Buddhism, the four and eight kinds of suffering represent the fundamental sufferings of human beings.