艰苦奋斗 (jiān kǔ fèn dǒu) — to work hard and persevere in the face of difficulties; indomitable struggle

Definition

A four-character idiom for 'hard, persistent struggle against hardship' — typically used in formal, political, or motivational writing about sustained effort over time.

idiom
to work hard and persevere in the face of difficultiesindomitable struggle

Examples

  • 艰苦奋斗。
    Lǎo yí bèi de gé mìng jiā kào jiān kǔ fèn dǒu dǎ xià le jiāng shān.
    The older generation of revolutionaries relied on hard struggle to build the country.
  • 艰苦奋斗，。
    Gōng sī tí chàng jiān kǔ fèn dǒu de jīng shén, gǔ lì yuán gōng bú pà kùn nan.
    The company promotes the spirit of hard struggle and encourages employees not to fear difficulties.
  • 艰苦奋斗，。
    Jīng guò shí nián de jiān kǔ fèn dǒu, tā zhōng yú chuàng yè chéng gōng le.
    After ten years of hard struggle, he finally succeeded in his startup.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
偏正piānzhèngModifier + head

The first part narrows down the second: it says what kind of thing the head is.

艰苦hard and bitter
艰jiāndifficult苦kǔbitter
联合Side by side
奋斗striving and fighting
奋fènexert oneself斗dòufight
联合Side by side

艰苦 gives hard and bitter, and 奋斗 gives striving and fighting; together they mean working hard through difficulties.

Characters in this word

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 艱; 艰 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
𦰩𦰩𦰩
Sound part声符shēngfú
艮
艮gèn艱jiān
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 艱 pairs 𦰩 for meaning with 艮 for sound; the simplified 艰 is a later abbreviation.

Open 艰 →

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

Meaning part形符xíngfú
艸艸cǎograss
Sound part声符shēngfú
古
古gǔ苦kǔ
Close in sound todayThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The top 艸 shows grass or plants, matching the sense of bitter plants. The bottom 古 gives the sound.

Open 苦 →

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

This origin belongs to the traditional form 奮; 奋 is its simplified writing.

The traditional form 奮 pairs 奞, a bird, with 田, a field, to show a bird spreading its wings to fly; the simplified 奋 is a later abbreviation.

Open 奋 →

A drawing of the thing itself, worn down over three thousand years into a few strokes.

The shape of 斗 originally showed a ladle-shaped dipper or cup used to measure grain, held in a hand.

Open 斗 →

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