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逆境 (nì jìng) — adversity; hardship; difficult circumstances

Definition

逆境 names the situation of being in hard circumstances — used in written/reflective contexts, more literary than 困难 or 困境. Pairs with verbs like 身处/面对/经历.

noun
adversityhardshipdifficult circumstances

Examples

  • 逆境，。
    Zài nì jìng zhōng, rén néng fā xiàn zhēn zhèng de lì liàng.
    In adversity, one can discover true strength.
  • ，逆境。
    Tā cóng bú fàng qì, jí shǐ shēn chǔ nì jìng.
    She never gives up, even when in adversity.
  • 逆境。
    Jīng lì guò nì jìng de rén wǎng wǎng gèng jiān qiáng.
    People who have experienced adversity tend to be stronger.

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.

逆nìadverse
境jìngcircumstances

逆 describes difficulty or opposition, and 境 means circumstances; together they mean hard situations.

Characters in this word

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

  • 辶辵chuòmovement
  • 屰屰nìgo against

The 辶 part shows movement, and 屰 gives the sound and the sense of going against, so the whole depicts moving in the opposite direction.

Open 逆 →

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
土土tǔearth
Sound part声符shēngfú
竟
竟jìng境jìng
Same sound today

境 pairs 土 (earth) with 竟, which gives the sound; the 土 part carries the meaning.

Open 境 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 7-9Abstract Concepts

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