nán difficult; problem; difficulty

Made up of [ zhuī short-tailed bird; dove radical 172, yòu also; in addition; and radical 29]
Alternative traditional form of character:
Made with 10 strokes.
The old representation had yellow earth baked in the sun as phonetic, the second part remains as a small bird. The modern form has a 'hand' immediately suggesting the 'difficulty' of grasping a bird

Related characters


Also uses zhuī component: shéi (who) tuī (to push) ; wéi (to preserve) ; xióng (male)
Also uses yòu component: bào (to announce) (to pass) ; duì (right) ; (to send out) ; fǎn (contrary) ; (clothes) ; hàn (chinese) ; huān (merry) ; (and) ; (fowl) ; jiān (difficult) ; (to take) ; shèng (holy) ; shòu (to receive) ; shù (tree) ; shuāng (pair) ; yǒu (friend) ; (pool) ; zhī (to support)

Sounds same

nán (south) ; nán (male)

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Pronunciation

Sound file kindly provided by shtooka.net under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike License

Proverbs

独木难支 dú mù nán zhī It often requires more than one person to resolve problems
覆水难收 fù shuǐ nán shōu What is done is done. The situation can not be restored to how it once was
孤掌难鸣 gū zhǎng nán míng It is difficult to achieve anything on your own
患难见真情 huàn nàn jiàn zhēn qíng Only in a crisis do you know who your friends really are
明枪易躲,暗箭难防 míng qiāng yì duǒ, àn jiàn nán fáng It is difficult to guard against furtive attacks
难得糊涂 nan dé hú tu Where ignorance is bliss, it is folly to be wise