Dictionary › 艰

艰

jiān

HSK 5 Character Traditional 艱

What 艰 means

1. difficult
2. hard
3. hardship

Example sentences

• 生活很艰苦。
  Life has been very hard.
• 这是个很艰难的斗争。
  Zhè shì gè hěn jiānnán de dòuzhēng.
  It was an uphill struggle.
• 他们不怕艰苦的工作。
  Tāmen bù pà jiānkǔ de gōngzuò.
  They're not afraid of hard work.
• 这是一项艰苦的工作。
  This is painstaking work.
• 这个月我过得有点艰难。
  This month was kind of difficult.
• 这名老妇艰难地爬上楼梯。
  The old lady climbed the stairs with difficulty.

Words starting with 艰

• 艰苦jiān kǔdifficult; hard; arduous
• 艰巨jiān jù(of a task, mission or responsibility) extremely difficult; challenging; demanding
• 艰难jiān nándifficult; hard; challenging
• 艰辛jiān xīnhardships; arduous; difficult
• 艰苦奋斗jiān kǔ fèn dòuto struggle arduously
• 艰险jiān xiǎndifficult and dangerous; hardships and perils
• 艰深jiān shēnabstruse; complicated
• 艰巨性jiān jù xìngarduousness; formidability; difficulty
• 艰难险阻jiān nán xiǎn zǔuntold dangers and difficulties (idiom)
• 艰苦朴素jiān kǔ pǔ sùleading a plain, hardworking life (idiom)
• 艰深晦涩jiān shēn huì sèabstruse and unfathomable (idiom)

Words containing 艰

• 举步维艰jǔ bù wéi jiānto make progress only with great difficulty (idiom)
• 丁艰dīng jiān(literary) to be in mourning after the death of a parent
• 不避艰险bù bì jiān xiǎnshrink or flinch from no difficulty or danger; make light of difficulties and dangers
• 人艰不拆rén jiān bù chāilife is hard enough as it is; don't burst my bubble (Internet slang)
• 步履维艰bù lǚ wéi jiānto have difficulty walking (idiom); to walk with difficulty
• 备尝艰苦bèi cháng jiān kǔsee 备尝辛苦

Characters that look like 艰

Easy to confuse on sight. Compare them side by side once and the pair stops costing you.

• 线xiànthread; string; wire
• 俄ésuddenly; very soon
• 垛duǒbattlement; target
• 垣yuánwall
• 咂zāto sip; to smack one's lips; to taste
• 柩jiùbier

Sounds the same

Read jiān, tone for tone, but written differently.

• 间between; among; within a definite time or space
• 坚strong; solid; firm
• 兼double; twice; simultaneous
• 肩shoulder; to shoulder (responsibilities etc)
• 煎to pan fry; to sauté
• 监to supervise; to inspect; jail
• 尖pointed; tapering; sharp; (of a sound) shrill; piercing…
• 奸wicked; crafty; traitor
• 渐to imbue
• 笺letter; note-paper
• 歼to annihilate; abbr. for 歼击机
• 浅sound of moving water