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難上加難

简难上加难 · 繁難上加難

Mandarin · pinyin nán shàng jiā nán

extremely difficult
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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Mandarin tones

2–4–1–2 · nan2 shang4 jia1 nan2

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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.

難上加難 · find source passages ↗ · 难上加难 · find source passages ↗

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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

(idiomatic) to be extremely difficult

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

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