Taxonomy of meanings for 艱:　　

  • 艱 jiān (OC: krɯɯn MC: kɯæn) 古閑切 平 廣韻：【艱難 】
    • DISTRESS
      • nabarchaic: difficulties; problems; tribulations
      • nadNN=humarchaic: troublesome, trouble-creating
      • nadVarchaic: with difficulty
      • visubject=humanarchaic: be in difficulties
      • visubject=actionarchaic: be troublesome, be fraught with difficulties
    • RARE
      • nadNN=nonhuarchaic: hard-to-obtain
    • DIFFUCULT
    • WICKED
      • MOURNING
        • STUPID
          • LACK
            • CAUTIOUS
            • 艱 jiān (OC: krɯɯn MC: kɯæn) 古閑切 平 廣韻：【艱古文 】

              Additional information about 艱

              說文解字:

                Criteria
              • DIFFICULT

                1. The clearly dominant word for anything that is hard to achieve or hard to sustain is nán 難 (ant. yì 易 "easy").

                2. Jiān 艱 refers to hardship and diffuculties, typically with respect to certain tasks.

                3. Jù 劇 "critical, virulent" sometimes has usages that come close to "troublesome, difficult".

                Word relations
              • Assoc: (DISTRESS)難/DIFFICULT The clearly dominant word for anything that is hard to achieve or hard to sustain is nán 難 (ant. yì 易 "easy").