难
difficult, hard
At a glance · 难
Evolution of the glyph
Five stages, from a sketch of the real object to regular script — tap a stage, drag the timeline, or play the animation.
Object sketchBefore writing · drawing what was seenOracle boneShang dynasty · c. 1300–1046 BCESeal scriptQin dynasty · 221–206 BCEClerical scriptHan dynasty · 206 BCE–220 CERegular scriptWei–Jin to Tang · c. 3rd–9th century CE
⚠ Some ancient forms are not attested：oracle bone form、seal script form。No excavated oracle bone / seal artifact is attested for this character yet; we leave it blank rather than fabricate.
难字小篆从隹𩁟声（繁體難），为形声字；本义为鸟名，引申为困难。甲骨文未见。
What the sketch shows
Origins & notes
难本义为困难、不易。
Structure
形声字，左部『隹』为意符表鸟，右部表声，后假借表困难。
At a glance
Pinyinnán
Radical隹
Strokes10
UnicodeU+96BE
Character type形声
Theme状态
Six languages, one character
Each page offers hreflang versions; switching language keeps the glyphs and meanings aligned.
English
difficult, hard
Nan is a phonetic-semantic character originally a bird name and borrowed for difficult.
Français
difficile, dur
Nan est un caractère phonético-sémantique à l'origine nom d'oiseau et emprunté pour difficile.
Español
difícil, duro
Nan es un carácter fonosemántico originalmente nombre de ave y tomado prestado para difícil.
العربية
صعب، عسير
نان حرف صوتي دلالي كان اسماً لطائر ثم استُعير للصعب.
Русский
трудный, тяжёлый
Нань — фоносемантический знак, изначально название птицы, заимствованное для «трудный».
Common words
- 困难kùn nándifficult
- 难题nán tídifficult problem