cruel, severe, atrocious, unjust
酷 centers on harshness and extreme severity: cruelty, injustice, and atrocious treatment. It describes actions or conditions that are excessively severe and unfair.
酷 combines 酉 (wine jar) with 告 (announce), likely as a phono-semantic compound where 告 contributes the sound and the wine jar suggests harshness or severity, possibly from the taste of strong liquor.
A wine jar 酉 beside an announcement 告: imagine a cruel ruler announcing harsh punishments while holding a jar of strong, bitter wine.
For コク, picture a cruel cook who serves atrocious food: cook -> コク, and the cook's severe treatment makes the kitchen unjust.
cruel; heartless; hard; harsh; severe
cruel; brutal; ruthless; merciless; inhuman
severe; harsh; hard; cruel; rigorous
severe; harsh; stringent; rigorous; strict; unfair
cruelty; coldheartedness; relentless; ruthless
exploitation; overuse; abuse
severe criticism; sharp criticism; scathing criticism; diatribe; panning
resembling closely; being strikingly similar; bearing a strong likeness
intense heat; severe heat
(really) terrible; awful; (very) nasty; (extremely) harsh; severe
cruel and heartless; merciless; implacable
cruel and heartless; merciless; implacable; cold-blooded
severity; rigor; rigour
severe (personality); unaffected by love
atrocity; cruelty; brutality
atrocious and cold-blooded; cruel; brutal; merciless
cruel; heartless; brutal; atrocious
live broiling of shellfish
inhumanity; atrocity; abominable cruelty
severe accident (esp. relating to a nuclear reactor)