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步履維艱

简 步履维艰 · 繁 步履維艱
Mandarin · pinyin bù lǚ wéi jiān

Meanings

  1. to have difficulty walking (idiom)
  2. to walk with difficulty
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Characters in this entry

步
bù · step, pace; walk, stroll
履
lǚ · footwear, shoes; walk on, tread; hexagram ䷉
維
Look up this written character
艱
Look up this written character
维
wéi · maintain, preserve, safeguard
艰
jiān · difficult, hard; distressing
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

Explore the spelling

Entries containing 步履維艱 ↗Words written with 步 ↗Words written with 履 ↗Words written with 維 ↗Words written with 艱 ↗Words written with 维 ↗Words written with 艰 ↗

Mandarin tones

4–3–2–1 · bu4 lu:3 wei2 jian1

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Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

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Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.
Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

bou6 lei5 wai4 gaan1

Cantonese word readings for 步履維艱. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

CanCLID contributors · CC BY 4.0 · source & license · Data pack

bou6 lei5 wai4 gaan1

Pleco · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Word reading; meanings not aligned.

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

Independent source senses for this spelling, with usage labels retained. Not matched to the pronunciation above.

phrase

  1. (idiomatic) to walk with great difficulty; to have difficulty walking

Source page · dump 2026-09-02 · Contributors & history

Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source & license · Data pack