Cruel
Awful, Severe
い adjective
This is a single kanji with an い on the end, meaning you know it's probably an adjective. What's the adjective form of cruel? Cruel or awful.
Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn this reading yet, so here's a mnemonic to help you:
Think of a man who is cruel. Doesn't matter who, but pick one that you know of that is actually cruel. He can be a real person or someone in a movie or on TV. What does this man do? He do (ひど) cruel things.
彼女の作った料理は、どれも酷い味だった。
All of the food she made tasted awful.
自分の彼女によくもそんな酷い事が言えるね。
How can you say such a cruel thing to your own girlfriend?
こんなに暑さが酷くなるって分かっていたら、この国に引っ越していなかったよ。
If I had known the heat would be this severe, I wouldn't have moved to this country.