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

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

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

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): jiānnán

  (Zhuyin): ㄐㄧㄢ ㄋㄢˊ

• 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

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• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: jiānnán
    • Zhuyin: ㄐㄧㄢ ㄋㄢˊ
    • 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
    • IPA (Zhangzhou): /kan⁴⁴⁻²² lan¹³/
    • IPA (Taipei): /kan⁴⁴⁻³³ lan²⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kan³³ lan²⁴/
    • IPA (Kaohsiung): /kan⁴⁴⁻³³ lan²³/
    • IPA (Xiamen): /kan⁴⁴⁻²² lan²⁴/
  • (Hokkien: Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kian-lân
    • Tâi-lô: kian-lân
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kienlaan
    • 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/

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• Middle Chinese: kean nan

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*kˤrə[r]  nˤar/

  (Zhengzhang): /*krɯːn  n̥ʰaːn/

Adjective

艱難

1. 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

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
	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
	Xianyou	惡
Wu	Shanghai	難
	Suzhou	難
	Wenzhou	難
Xiang	Changsha	難
	Shuangfeng	難
Note	† - only used with a verbal complement

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

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)

See also

• 艱危／艰危 (jiānwēi)
• 危急 (wēijí)