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難關

简难关 · 繁難關

Mandarin · pinyin nán guān

difficulty
crisis

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Characters in this entry

難: Look up this written character
關: Look up this written character
难: nán · difficult, arduous, hard; unable
关: guān · frontier pass; close; relation

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

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Mandarin tones

2–1 · nan2 guan1

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2character links1same-tone record

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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.

難關 · find source passages ↗ · 难关 · find source passages ↗

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Compare dictionary sources Wiktionary · 2 senses · 1 Cantonese reading

Rime Cantonese 粵拼

naan4 gwaan1

Cantonese word readings for 難關. 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.

noun

crisis; difficulty; tough time

noun

(literary) moment of disaster; challenge of calamity

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

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