DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

克難

简克难 · 繁克難

Mandarin · pinyin kè nán

to make do in difficult circumstances by being resourceful
(of circumstances) difficult
challenging
(of a budget) tight
(of a man-made thing) makeshift
rough and ready

Full entryShow on map

Characters in this entry

克: kè · gram; overcome; transliteration
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.

Explore the spelling

Mandarin tones

4–2 · ke4 nan2

Compare attested words with these syllables ↗

Dictionary tones. Connected speech can change their realization.

Connected dictionary

2character links

Explore word families ↗Compare pronunciations ↗Open character structure ↗

Counts describe dictionary records, not word frequency or semantic similarity. Source identities stay separate.

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.

克難 · find source passages ↗ · 克难 · find source passages ↗

Explore Classical grammar ↗