難

• In traditional Chinese, Japanese kyūjitai, Korean hanja and Vietnamese Nôm, the component for this character is written with 廿 on top. Note that the bottom portion is written 口 overlapped by 夫 and not 中 on top of 天.
• In Japanese shinjitai, the component is written with 艹 on top and has one stroke less. Due to Han unification, both traditional Chinese and Japanese forms are encoded under the same code point. The appearance of this character will differ according to the font used.
• In simplified Chinese, the component is simplified to 又 instead, giving the character 难 (U+96BE).
• Two compatibility ideographs exist for this character. U+FA68 corresponds to the kyūjitai form of this character while U+FAC7 corresponds to the alternative Korean form which is similar to Japanese shinjitai.

難 (Kangxi radical 172, 隹+11 in Chinese and Korean, 隹+10 in Japanese, 19 strokes in Chinese and Korean, 18 strokes in Japanese, cangjie input 廿人人土 (TOOG) or 廿戈人土 (TIOG), four-corner 4051₄, composition ⿰⿱廿⿻口夫隹(GHTKV or U+FA68) or ⿰𦰩隹(J or U+FAC7))

• 儺(傩), 𡅧(𭉼), 𡔃, 𢥪, 攤(摊), 灘(滩), 𣌖, 𦣎(𦟗), 㰙(𣗙), 𤓌(𪹠), 𮁙, 𡚟, 㬮, 䕼(𬝴), 癱(瘫), 𦍀, 𥸁, 𡿊, 戁(𫺷), 𢺋, 𤓉, 㸐(𬊾), 𦣊, 𧕴, 臡

• 难 (Simplified Chinese)

• KangXi: page 1370, character 5
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 42128
• Dae Jaweon: page 1876, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 6, page 4108, character 5
• Unihan data for U+96E3
• Unihan data for U+FA68
• Unihan data for U+FAC7

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *n̥ʰaːn, *naːns) : phonetic 𦰩 + semantic 隹 (“bird”) – a type of bird. Phonetically borrowed for other senses.

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *na-n/t (“ill, pain, difficult, evil spirit”).

Cognate with Tibetan མནར (mnar, “to suffer; suffering”), ན (na, “to be sick, ill”), ནན་ཏེ (nan te, “sick, ill”), ནད (nad, “disease, suffering”), Burmese နာ (na, “to suffer pain, to be ill”), နတ် (nat, “nat (spirit), evil spirit”).

難

1. difficult; hard; troublesome

   Antonym: 易 (yì)

   為人父母很難。／为人父母很难。  ―  Wéirén fùmǔ hěn nán.  ―  it is difficult being a parent.

   這項工作非常難。／这项工作非常难。  ―  Zhè xiàng gōngzuò fēicháng nán.  ―  This job is very hard.

   • 人之言曰，為君難，為臣不易。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     人之言曰，为君难，为臣不易。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE

     Rén zhī yán yuē, wèi jūn nán, wèi chén bùyì. [Pinyin]

     There is a saying which people have—"To be a prince is difficult; to be a minister is not easy."

2. bad; unpleasant

   難看／难看  ―  nánkàn  ―  ugly

   難聽／难听  ―  nántīng  ―  unpleasant to the ear

3. to feel difficult; to find difficult

   • 皋陶曰：「都！在知人，在安民。」禹曰：「吁！咸若時，惟帝其難之。」 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     皋陶曰：“都！在知人，在安民。”禹曰：“吁！咸若时，惟帝其难之。” [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Documents, circa 4^th – 3^rd century BCE

     Gāoyáo yuē: “Dōu! Zài zhīrén, zài ānmín.” Yǔ yuē: “Xū! Xián ruò shí, wéi Dì qí nán zhī.” [Pinyin]

     Gaoyao continued, "Oh! it lies in knowing men, and giving repose to the people." Yu said, "Alas! to attain to both these things might well be a difficulty even to the [deity] Di."

4. to make things difficult for; to put someone in a difficult position
5. difficulty; something which is difficult; issue

   • 責難於君謂之恭，陳善閉邪謂之敬。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     责难于君谓之恭，陈善闭邪谓之敬。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE

     Zé nán yú jūn wèi zhī gōng, chén shàn bì xié wèi zhī jìng. [Pinyin]

     To urge one's sovereign to difficult achievements may be called showing respect for him. To set before him what is good and repress his perversities may be called showing reverence for him.

6. 79th tetragram of the Taixuanjing; "difficulties" (𝍔)
7. Alternative form of 戁／𫺷 (nǎn, “to dread; to fear”).
8. Alternative form of 攤／摊 (tān, “sacrificial rites for getting rid of bogeys”).

• (easy): 容易 (róngyì)

難

1. disaster; calamity; catastrophe

   災難／灾难  ―  zāinàn  ―  disaster, catastrophe

   危難／危难  ―  wēinàn  ―  calamity

   劫難／劫难  ―  jiénàn  ―  calamity

2. revolt; attack
3. enmity; foe
4. to blame; to scold; to reproach

   質難／质难  ―  zhìnàn  ―  to blame

   非難／非难  ―  fēinàn  ―  to blame

5. to keep out; to ward off; to refuse
6. to argue; to debate

• “難”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A04467

(grade 6 “Kyōiku” kanji, shinjitai kanji, kyūjitai form 難)

1. difficult

From Middle Chinese 難 (MC nɑn, nɑnH):

• Go-on: なん (nan, Jōyō)
• Kan-on: だん (dan)

From Middle Chinese; compare Mandarin 難／难 (nuó):

• Go-on: な (na)
• Kan-on: だ (da)

From native Japanese roots:

• Kun: かたい (katai, 難い, Jōyō)^{←かたし (katasi, 難し, historical)}; むずかしい (muzukashii, 難しい, Jōyō)^{←むづかしい (mudukasii, 難しい, historical)}; うれい (urei, 難い)^{←うれひ (urefi, 難ひ, historical)}; かたき (kataki, 難き); がたし (gatashi, 難し); かたんず (katanzu, 難んず); なじる (najiru, 難る); むつかしい (mutsukashii, 難しい)^{←むつかし (mutukasi, 難し, historical)}; わざわい (wazawai, 難い)^{←わざはひ (wazafafi, 難ひ, historical)}; にくい (nikui, 難い)

From Middle Chinese 難 (MC nɑn).

• (Tokyo) な​ん [náꜜǹ] (Atamadaka – [1])[3]
• IPA^(key): [nã̠ɴ]

難(なん) • (nan) 

1. difficulty

難 (eumhun 어려울 난 (eoryeoul nan))

1. Hanja form^? of 난 (“difficulty”).

• 난민 (難民, nanmin, “refugee”)
• 고난 (苦難, gonan, “hardship”)
• 난이도 (難易度, nanido, “degree of difficulty”)

難 (nàn)

1. Nôm form of nàn (“hard, late”).

• Lục Văn Pảo; Hoàng Tuấn Nam (2003), Hoàng Triều Ân, editor, Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày [A Dictionary of (chữ) Nôm Tày]‎ (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học Xã hội

難: Hán Nôm readings: nan, nạn, nản, nần, nàn

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.