難為

简 难为 · 繁 難為
Mandarin · pinyin nán wei

Meanings

  1. to bother
  2. to press sb, usu. to do sth
  3. it's a tough job
  4. sorry to bother you (polite, used to thank sb for a favor)
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Characters in this entry

難
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為
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难
nán · difficult, arduous, hard; unable
为
wèi · do, handle, govern, act; be
Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2–5 · nan2 wei5

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Read this spelling in Classical texts

Follow a written form into the eight pinned witnesses: Analects, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Han Feizi, Sunzi and the Mao Shijing. A match is a place to investigate; it does not prove that a modern dictionary sense fits the passage.

難為 · find source passages ↗ · 难为 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 6 senses

Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

verb

  1. (literary) to be difficult to do

verb

  1. to make it difficult for (someone)
  2. to be a tough job for (someone)
  3. (polite) An expression used to thank someone for doing something that takes effort
  4. to spoil; to ruin; to waste
  5. (polite, chiefly Northern Wu) to expend; to spend; to squander; to waste (something valuable)

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

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

難為 · nan2 wei5
CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG · edition 2026-10-13 · source line 116,625
Original dictionary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source & transformation details
Exact source record難為 难为 [nan2 wei5] /to bother/to press sb, usu. to do sth/it's a tough job/sorry to bother you (polite, used to thank sb for a favor)/