Meaning of 困难
Definitions from CC-CEDICT.
- difficult
- challenging
- straitened circumstances
- difficult situation
How to use 困难
困难 works as a noun for a problem or hardship, and as an adjective meaning difficult. It often appears with verbs like 遇到 (yùdào, run into) or 克服 (kèfú, overcome). Example: 我们遇到了很多困难。(Wǒmen yùdào le hěn duō kùnnan.) We ran into a lot of difficulties.
困 (kùn) shows a tree 木 boxed inside a wall 口, so it is stuck and cannot grow. Add 难 (nán, hard) and you get 困难, a situation where you feel trapped and things are hard.
Common mistake: Learners often write 困 with 木 replaced by 大 or 人, which gives 因 (yīn) or 囚 (qiú), different characters. Also, 难 is usually neutral tone in 困难 (kùnnan), not a full second tone.
困难 in example sentences
Real sentences from the Tatoeba project, with pinyin and English.
Stroke order for each character
Open a character for its meaning, components and more words.
困 kùn · to trap · 7 strokes
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难 nán · difficult · 10 strokes
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Related words
Words that share a character with 困难.
| 难过 | nánguò | to feel sad; to feel unwell |
| 难受 | nánshòu | to feel unwell; to suffer pain |
| 难看 | nánkàn | ugly; unsightly |
| 难题 | nántí | difficult problem |
| 难听 | nántīng | unpleasant to hear; coarse |
| 难道 | nándào | don't tell me ...; could it be that...? |
| 难度 | nándù | degree of difficulty |
| 难免 | nánmiǎn | hard to avoid; difficult to escape from |
| 艰难 | jiānnán | difficult; arduous; hard |
| 灾难 | zāinàn | disaster; catastrophe |
| 难以 | nányǐ | hard to (predict, imagine etc) |
| 困扰 | kùnrǎo | to perplex; to disturb |
Questions about 困难
What does 困难 mean?
困难 (kùnnan) means "difficult; challenging" and is used as a noun and adjective.
How do you write 困难?
困难 is made of 2 characters: 困 (7 strokes), 难 (10 strokes). That is 17 strokes in total.
Is 困难 an HSK word?
Yes. 困难 is on the HSK 3 vocabulary list of the HSK 3.0 standard.
How is 困难 written in traditional Chinese?
In traditional characters, 困难 is written 困難.
What is the difference between 困难 and 难?
难 (nán) is the everyday adjective for hard, as in 这个题很难 (this question is hard). 困难 sounds more formal and is often used as a noun for hardships, as in 生活困难 (financial hardship). As a noun, use 困难, not 难.
Can 困难 describe someone's financial situation?
Yes. 家庭困难 (jiātíng kùnnan) or 经济困难 (jīngjì kùnnan) means a family or person is short of money. This is the straitened circumstances sense in the dictionary.