The character 难 — “difficult”: how to write it and what it means
difficult
The Chinese character 难 is read nán and means “difficult”. Below: the stroke order step by step, what the character is made of and the words it appears in.
Stroke order: how to write 难
难 has 10 strokes. At each step the new stroke is highlighted — write them in the same order: top to bottom and left to right, horizontal before vertical, a frame before what is inside it, and the bottom stroke of the frame last.
To train your hand, print a handwriting sheet for 难, with strokes to trace and empty squares.
What 难 is made of
难看 is “hard to look at”, that is, “ugly”.
The parts of a character hint at its meaning or its reading — more in the article “Chinese character radicals”.
Words with 难
- 难过sad, upsetHSK 3
- 难看uglyHSK 3
- 难听unpleasant to hearHSK 3
- 难题difficult problemHSK 3
- 难受feel unwell; hard to bearHSK 4
- 难道could it be thatHSK 4
- 难忘unforgettableHSK 4
- 困难difficulty; difficultHSK 4
- 难度difficultyHSK 5
- 难得rare, hard to come byHSK 5
- 难以hard to (do)HSK 5
- 难免unavoidable, hard to avoidHSK 6
- 为难make things hard; feel awkwardHSK 6
- 难点difficult point, difficultyHSK 6
- 灾难catastrophe, misfortuneHSK 6
- 艰难hard, difficult (path, life)HSK 6
Frequently asked questions
How do you write the character 难?
难 has 10 strokes. They follow the usual rules: top to bottom, left to right, horizontal before vertical, outside before inside. The order of each stroke is shown on this page.
What does 难 mean?
难 means “difficult”. It appears in 难过 (“sad”), 难看 (“ugly”), 难听 (“unpleasant to hear”), 难题 (“difficult problem”).
How do you pronounce 难?
难 is read nán. The tone is part of the reading: with another melody it becomes another syllable.
How many strokes does 难 have?
10 strokes.
More characters on the page “Chinese characters with meanings” and in the list of HSK characters by level; whole words are in the dictionary.
Write 难 yourself
In the lessons you write characters stroke by stroke with a finger or a mouse, and the course checks the order. You can start for free, no sign-up needed.
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