Suffering means experiencing pain, distress, or hardship, whether physical or emotional. When you break your arm, the sharp pain and long weeks in a cast create physical suffering. When a close friend moves away, the sadness and loneliness you feel is emotional suffering.

Suffering comes in many forms and intensities. A mild headache causes minor suffering that passes quickly. Serious illness, the loss of someone you love, or living through difficult circumstances like poverty or war creates deep suffering that can last much longer. Animals suffer too: an injured bird struggles to fly, a neglected dog feels hunger and cold.

The word can also mean tolerating or enduring something difficult. A student might suffer through a boring assembly, meaning they sit through it even though it's unpleasant. To suffer the consequences means to experience the results of a bad choice.

Throughout history, humans have worked to reduce suffering through medicine, laws that protect people's rights, and acts of compassion. When a doctor treats a patient, a volunteer serves at a food bank, or a friend comforts someone who's hurting, they're helping to ease another person's suffering.