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難

简难 · 繁難

Mandarin · pinyin nán#

difficult (to...)
problem
difficulty
difficult
not good

Mandarin · pinyin nàn#

disaster
distress
to scold

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Characters in this entry

難: Look up this written character
难: nán · difficult, arduous, hard; unable

Written characters and their own readings; the entry’s pronunciation is shown above.

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Mandarin tones

2 · nan2

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1character link17same-tone records

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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 · find source passages ↗ · 难 · find source passages ↗

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Rime Cantonese 粵拼

naan4 · naan6 · no4

Cantonese word readings for 難. This lexicon supplies readings, not definitions.

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Wiktionary English definitions · Chinese section

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

character

difficult; hard; troublesome
bad; unpleasant
to feel difficult; to find difficult
to make things difficult for; to put someone in a difficult position
difficulty; something which is difficult; issue
79th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "difficulties" (𝍔)
(alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 戁 /𫺷 (nǎn, “to dread; to fear”)
(alt-of, alternative) alternative form of 攤 /摊 (“sacrificial rites for getting rid of bogeys”)

character

disaster; calamity; catastrophe
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) revolt; attack
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) enmity; foe
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to blame; to scold; to reproach
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to keep out; to ward off; to refuse
(obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) to argue; to debate

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

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