受难 (shòu nàn) — to suffer calamity or hardship; to die as a mar…

Definition

Literary/formal verb meaning 'to suffer hardship or die as a martyr' — used in religious, historical, or commemorative writing, not everyday speech.

verb

to suffer calamity or hardshipto die as a martyr

，受难。
Zhàn zhēng shí qī, hěn duō rén dōu zài shòu nàn.
During the war, many people were suffering hardships.
。
Tā zhè yì shēng shòu le bù zhī dào duō shǎo nán.
In his lifetime, he suffered who knows how many hardships.
受难。
Zhè wèi shèng tú wèi le xìn yǎng ér shòu nàn.
This saint died a martyr for his faith.

Compound word

构词法gòucífǎ

动宾dòngbīnVerb + object

An action followed by what it acts on, fused into one word.

难náncalamity

受 (“suffer”) and 难 (“calamity”) mean suffer hardship or die as a martyr.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

受 possibly combines 爪 and 又 as hands with 舟 as a boat, to show handing something over.

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 難; 难 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú

隹隹zhuībird

Sound part声符shēngfú

暵

暵hàn難nán

Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional 難 pairs 隹, a bird, with 暵 for sound, and meant a type of bird. It was later borrowed for other meanings; the modern 难 is a shorthand.

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