DICTIONARY · CC-CEDICT

步履維艱

简步履维艰 · 繁步履維艱

Mandarin · pinyin bù lǚ wéi jiān

to have difficulty walking (idiom)
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.

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Mandarin tones

4–3–2–1 · bu4 lu:3 wei2 jian1

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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.

步履維艱 · find source passages ↗ · 步履维艰 · find source passages ↗

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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.

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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.

phrase

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

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

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