艱難

See also: 艰难

Chinese

		difficult; hard; hardship	disaster; distress; to scold disaster; distress; to scold; difficult (to...); problem; difficulty; difficult; not good
trad. (艱難)		艱	難
simp. (艰难)		艰	难

Pronunciation

Mandarin
(Pinyin): jiānnán

(Zhuyin): ㄐㄧㄢㄋㄢˊ
Cantonese (Jyutping): gaan¹ naan⁴
Hakka (Sixian, PFS): kân-nàn / kiên-nàn / kiân-nàn
Southern Min
(Hokkien, POJ): kan-lân / kian-lân

(Teochew, Peng'im): gang¹ lang⁵
Wu (Shanghai, Wugniu): ¹ci-ne₆

Mandarin
- (Standard Chinese)⁺
  - Hanyu Pinyin: jiānnán
  - Zhuyin: ㄐㄧㄢㄋㄢˊ
  - Tongyong Pinyin: jiannán
  - Wade–Giles: chien¹-nan²
  - Yale: jyān-nán
  - Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jiannan
  - Palladius: цзяньнань (czjanʹnanʹ)
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕi̯ɛn⁵⁵ nän³⁵/
Cantonese
- (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)⁺
  - Jyutping: gaan¹ naan⁴
  - Yale: gāan nàahn
  - Cantonese Pinyin: gaan¹ naan⁴
  - Guangdong Romanization: gan¹ nan⁴
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kaːn⁵⁵ naːn²¹/
Hakka
- (Northern Sixian, incl. Miaoli)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: kân-nàn / kiên-nàn
  - Hakka Romanization System: gan^ˊ nan^ˇ / gien^ˊ nan^ˇ
  - Hagfa Pinyim: gan¹ nan² / gian¹ nan²
  - Sinological IPA: /kan²⁴ nan¹¹/, /ki̯en²⁴ nan¹¹/
- (Southern Sixian, incl. Neipu)
  - Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: kân-nàn / kiân-nàn
  - Hakka Romanization System: gan^ˊ nan^ˇ / gian^ˊ nan^ˇ
  - Hagfa Pinyim: gan¹ nan² / gian¹ nan²
  - Sinological IPA: /kan²⁴ nan¹¹/, /ki̯an²⁴ nan¹¹/
Southern Min
- (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kan-lân
  - Tâi-lô: kan-lân
  - Phofsit Daibuun: kanlaan
  - Sinological IPA (Zhangzhou): /kan⁴⁴⁻²² lan¹³/
  - Sinological IPA (Taipei): /kan⁴⁴⁻³³ lan²⁴/
  - Sinological IPA (Quanzhou): /kan³³ lan²⁴/
  - Sinological IPA (Kaohsiung): /kan⁴⁴⁻³³ lan²³/
  - Sinological IPA (Xiamen): /kan⁴⁴⁻²² lan²⁴/
- (Hokkien: Zhangzhou)
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kian-lân
  - Tâi-lô: kian-lân
  - Phofsit Daibuun: kienlaan
  - Sinological IPA (Zhangzhou): /kiɛn⁴⁴⁻²² lan¹³/
- (Teochew)
  - Peng'im: gang¹ lang⁵
  - Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: kang lâng
  - Sinological IPA ^(key): /kaŋ³³⁻²³ laŋ⁵⁵/
Wu
- (Northern: Shanghai)
  - Wugniu: ¹ci-ne₆
  - MiniDict: ci^平 ne^去
  - Wiktionary Romanisation (Shanghai): ¹ji-ne₃
  - Sinological IPA (Shanghai): /t͡ɕi⁵⁵ ne²¹/

Middle Chinese: kean nan

Rime
Character	艱	難
Reading #	1/1	1/2
Initial (聲)	見 (28)	泥 (8)
Final (韻)	山 (73)	寒 (61)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open	Open
Division (等)	II	I
Fanqie	古閑切	那干切
Baxter	kean	nan
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kˠɛn/	/nɑn/
Pan Wuyun	/kᵚæn/	/nɑn/
Shao Rongfen	/kæn/	/nɑn/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kəɨn/	/nan/
Li Rong	/kɛn/	/nɑn/
Wang Li	/kæn/	/nɑn/
Bernhard Karlgren	/kăn/	/nɑn/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	jiān	nán
Expected Cantonese Reflex	gaan¹	naan⁴

Old Chinese
(Baxter–Sagart): /*kˤrə[r] nˤar/

(Zhengzhang): /*krɯːn n̥ʰaːn/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	艱	難
Reading #	1/1	1/2
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	jiān	nán
Middle Chinese	‹ kɛn ›	‹ nan ›
Old Chinese	/*kˁrə[r]/	/*nˁar/
English	difficulty	difficult
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. [t] as coda may in fact be -t or -p; Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	艱	難
Reading #	1/1	1/2
No.	3912	4897
Phonetic component	艮	暵
Rime group	文	元
Rime subdivision	1	1
Corresponding MC rime	閒	難
Old Chinese	/*krɯːn/	/*n̥ʰaːn/
Notes		朱駿聲暵省聲

Adjective

艱難

hard; difficult; challenging
時局艱難／时局艰难 ― shíjú jiānnán ― difficult political situation

Synonyms

edit

不容易 (bùróngyì)
勤 (qín) (literary, or in compounds)
困難 / 困难
疑難 / 疑难 (yínán)
硬斗 (Hokkien)
硬氣 / 硬气 (Quanzhou Hokkien, Xiamen Hokkien)
硬水 (Hokkien)
硬繚 / 硬缭 (Hokkien)
硬頭 / 硬头 (Xiamen Hokkien, Zhangzhou Hokkien)
良苦 (liángkǔ) (literary)
艱巨 / 艰巨 (jiānjù)
艱苦 / 艰苦 (jiānkǔ)
艱辛 / 艰辛 (jiānxīn)
苦難 / 苦难 (kǔnàn)
辛勞 / 辛劳 (xīnláo)
辛苦 (xīnkǔ)
難 / 难

Dialectal synonyms of 難 (“difficult”) [map]

Variety	Location	Words edit
Classical Chinese		難, 困難, 艱難
Formal (Written Standard Chinese)		難, 困難, 艱難
Northeastern Mandarin	Beijing	難
	Taiwan	難
	Singapore	難
Jilu Mandarin	Jinan	難
Central Plains Mandarin	Xi'an	難
Southwestern Mandarin	Chengdu	難
	Wuhan	難
	Guilin	難
Jianghuai Mandarin	Yangzhou	難
Jianghuai Mandarin	Hefei	難
Cantonese	Guangzhou	難, 惡 †
	Hong Kong	難, 惡 †
	Zhongshan (Shiqi)	難
	Taishan	難, 惡 †
	Yangjiang	難, 惡 †
	Singapore (Guangfu)	難
Gan	Nanchang	難
Hakka	Meixian	難
	Miaoli (N. Sixian)	難
	Pingtung (Neipu; S. Sixian)	難
	Hsinchu County (Zhudong; Hailu)	難
	Taichung (Dongshi; Dabu)	難
	Hsinchu County (Qionglin; Raoping)	難
	Yunlin (Lunbei; Zhao'an)	難
Jin	Taiyuan	難
Northern Min	Jian'ou	難
Eastern Min	Fuzhou	艱難, 難
Southern Min	Xiamen	惡, 艱苦, 歹 †
	Quanzhou	惡
	Jinjiang	難
	Zhangzhou	惡
	Zhao'an	惡, 䆀 †
	Dongshan	惡
	Taipei	惡
	New Taipei (Sanxia)	惡
	Kaohsiung	惡
	Yilan	惡
	Changhua (Lukang)	惡
	Taichung	惡
	Tainan	惡, 歹 †
	Hsinchu	惡
	Kinmen	惡
	Penghu (Magong)	惡
	Penang (Hokkien)	艱苦, 歹 †
	Singapore (Hokkien)	惡, 艱苦, 歹 †
	Manila (Hokkien)	艱苦, 惡, 歹 †
	Chaozhou	惡
	Shantou	難, 惡
	Shantou (Chenghai)	惡
	Jieyang	惡, 艱苦
	Haifeng	惡
	Singapore (Teochew)	惡, 歹 †
	Leizhou	惡
	Wenchang	惡
	Haikou	惡
	Singapore (Hainanese)	惡
Puxian Min	Putian	惡
Puxian Min	Xianyou	惡
Wu	Shanghai	難
	Suzhou	難
	Wenzhou	難
Xiang	Changsha	難
Xiang	Shuangfeng	難
Note	† - only used with a verbal complement

Derived terms

艱難困苦 / 艰难困苦 (jiānnánkùnkǔ)
艱難竭蹶 / 艰难竭蹶 (jiānnánjiéjué)
艱難險阻 / 艰难险阻 (jiānnánxiǎnzǔ)

Descendants

Sino-Xenic (艱難):

→ Japanese: 艱難(かんなん) (kannan)
→ Korean: 간난(艱難) (gannan)
→ Vietnamese: gian nan (艱難)

Japanese

Kanji in this term
艱	難
かん Hyōgai	なん Grade: 6
on'yomi

Alternative spelling
艱難 (kyūjitai)

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) かんなん [káꜜǹnàǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])^[1]
(Tokyo) かんなん [kàńnáń] (Heiban – [0])^[1]
IPA^(key): [kã̠nːã̠ɴ]

Noun

艱(かん)難(なん) • (kannan)

hardships, difficulties

Verb

艱(かん)難(なん)する • (kannan suru) suru (stem 艱(かん)難(なん)し (kannan shi), past 艱(かん)難(なん)した (kannan shita))

to experience hardships, difficulties

Conjugation

Conjugation of "艱難する" (See Appendix:Japanese verbs)
Katsuyōkei ("stem forms")
Mizenkei ("imperfective")	艱難し	かんなんし	kannan shi
Ren’yōkei ("continuative")	艱難し	かんなんし	kannan shi
Shūshikei ("terminal")	艱難する	かんなんする	kannan suru
Rentaikei ("attributive")	艱難する	かんなんする	kannan suru
Kateikei ("hypothetical")	艱難すれ	かんなんすれ	kannan sure
Meireikei ("imperative")	艱難せよ¹ 艱難しろ²	かんなんせよ¹ かんなんしろ²	kannan seyo¹ kannan shiro²
Key constructions
Passive	艱難される	かんなんされる	kannan sareru
Causative	艱難させる艱難さす	かんなんさせるかんなんさす	kannan saseru kannan sasu
Potential	艱難できる	かんなんできる	kannan dekiru
Volitional	艱難しよう	かんなんしよう	kannan shiyō
Negative	艱難しない	かんなんしない	kannan shinai
Negative continuative	艱難せず	かんなんせず	kannan sezu
Formal	艱難します	かんなんします	kannan shimasu
Perfective	艱難した	かんなんした	kannan shita
Conjunctive	艱難して	かんなんして	kannan shite
Hypothetical conditional	艱難すれば	かんなんすれば	kannan sureba

¹ Written imperative
² Spoken imperative

Derived terms

艱難辛苦(かんなんしんく) (kannanshinku)
艱難苦労(かんなんくろう) (kannankurō)
艱難汝(かんなんなんじ)を玉(たま)にす (kannannanji o tamanisu)

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

“^▲艱難”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026

Korean

Hanja in this term
艱	難

Noun

艱難 • (gannan) (hangeul 간난)

hanja form^? of 간난 (“hardships, privations, tribulations”)

Vietnamese

chữ Hán Nôm in this term
艱	難

Adjective

艱難

chữ Hán form of gian nan (“miserably hard; difficult; tough”)

[DJR-1] 1.0 ^1.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

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