艰 (jiān) — difficult; arduous (bound form)

Definition

艰 (jiān) is a bound morpheme meaning 'difficult / arduous' — it never stands alone. It combines with characters like 难 (艰难), 苦 (艰苦), 险 (艰险) to make fixed compound adjectives.

bound form

difficultarduous (bound form)

Examples

，。
Shēng huó suī rán hěn jiān nán, dàn wǒ men bù néng fàng qì.
Although life is hard, we cannot give up.
。
Tā men jīng lì le jiān kǔ de xùn liàn cái chéng gōng.
They succeeded only after going through arduous training.
，。
Qián fāng dào lù jiān xiǎn, dà jiā yào xiǎo xīn.
The road ahead is dangerous and difficult — everyone must be careful.

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