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難上加難

简 难上加难 · 繁 難上加難
Mandarin · pinyin nán shàng jiā nán

Meanings

  1. extremely difficult
  2. even more difficult
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Characters in this entry

難
Look up this written character
上
shàng · top; superior, highest; go up, send up
加
jiā · add to, increase, augment
难
nán · difficult, arduous, hard; unable
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Entries containing 難上加難 ↗Words written with 難 ↗Words written with 上 ↗Words written with 加 ↗Words written with 难 ↗

Mandarin tones

2–4–1–2 · nan2 shang4 jia1 nan2

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 1 sense

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 be extremely difficult

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

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