艱

See also: 艰

艱 U+8271, 艱 CJK UNIFIED IDEOGRAPH-8271 ← 艰 [U+8270] CJK Unified Ideographs 色 → [U+8272]

Translingual

Han character

艱 (Kangxi radical 138, 艮+11, 17 strokes, cangjie input 廿人日女 (TOAV), four-corner 4753₂, composition ⿰𦰩艮)

References

• Kangxi Dictionary: page 1013, character 29
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 30600
• Dae Jaweon: page 1473, character 2
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 5, page 3171, character 5
• Unihan data for U+8271

Chinese

trad.		艱
simp.		艰
alternative forms		𦫒 囏 𡆒 𮎚 𡿤

Glyph origin

Characters in the same phonetic series (艮) (Zhengzhang, 2003) 

	Old Chinese
艱	*krɯːn
齦	*kʰrɯːnʔ, *kʰɯːnʔ, *ŋɯn
眼	*ŋrɯːnʔ
蛝	*ɡrɯːn
限	*ɡrɯːnʔ
硍	*ɡrɯːnʔ
豤	*kʰɯːnʔ, *kʰɯːnʔ, *kʰuːn
詪	*ɡlɯːnʔ, *kɯːnʔ, *kɯːns
根	*kɯːn
跟	*kɯːn
珢	*kɯːn, *kɯːns, *ŋrɯn
艮	*kɯːns
茛	*kɯːns
墾	*kʰɯːnʔ
懇	*kʰɯːnʔ
垠	*ŋɯːn, *ŋrɯn, *ŋɯn
泿	*ŋɯːn, *ŋrɯn
痕	*ɡɯːn
拫	*ɡɯːn
鞎	*ɡɯːn
很	*ɡɯːnʔ
恨	*ɡɯːns
銀	*ŋrɯn
檭	*ŋrɯn

Phono-semantic compound (形聲 / 形声, OC *krɯːn): semantic 𦰩 + phonetic 艮 (OC *kɯːns).

Pronunciation

• Mandarin

  (Pinyin): jiān (jian¹)

  (Zhuyin): ㄐㄧㄢ

• Cantonese (Jyutping): gaan¹
• Hakka (Sixian, PFS): kân / kiên / kiân
• Eastern Min (BUC): găng
• Southern Min

  (Hokkien, POJ): kan / kian

  (Teochew, Peng'im): gang¹

---

• Mandarin
  • (Standard Chinese)⁺
    • Hanyu Pinyin: jiān
    • Zhuyin: ㄐㄧㄢ
    • Tongyong Pinyin: jian
    • Wade–Giles: chien¹
    • Yale: jyān
    • Gwoyeu Romatzyh: jian
    • Palladius: цзянь (czjanʹ)
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /t͡ɕi̯ɛn⁵⁵/
• Cantonese
  • (Standard Cantonese, Guangzhou–Hong Kong)
    • Jyutping: gaan¹
    • Yale: gāan
    • Cantonese Pinyin: gaan¹
    • Guangdong Romanization: gan¹
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kaːn⁵⁵/
• Hakka
  • (Northern Sixian, incl. Miaoli)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: kân / kiên
    • Hakka Romanization System: gan^ˊ / gien^ˊ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: gan¹ / gian¹
    • Sinological IPA: /kan²⁴/, /ki̯en²⁴/
  • (Southern Sixian, incl. Neipu)
    • Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: kân / kiân
    • Hakka Romanization System: gan^ˊ / gian^ˊ
    • Hagfa Pinyim: gan¹ / gian¹
    • Sinological IPA: /kan²⁴/, /ki̯an²⁴/
• Eastern Min
  • (Fuzhou)
    • Bàng-uâ-cê: găng
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kaŋ⁵⁵/
• Southern Min
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou, General Taiwanese)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kan
    • Tâi-lô: kan
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kafn
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou, Taipei, Kaohsiung): /kan⁴⁴/
    • IPA (Quanzhou): /kan³³/
  • (Hokkien: Xiamen, Zhangzhou)
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī: kian
    • Tâi-lô: kian
    • Phofsit Daibuun: kiefn
    • IPA (Xiamen, Zhangzhou): /kiɛn⁴⁴/

Note:

• kan - literary;
• kian - vernacular.

• • (Teochew)
    • Peng'im: gang¹
    • Pe̍h-ōe-jī-like: kang
    • Sinological IPA ^(key): /kaŋ³³/

---

• Middle Chinese: kean

Rime
Character	艱
Reading #	1/1
Initial (聲)	見 (28)
Final (韻)	山 (73)
Tone (調)	Level (Ø)
Openness (開合)	Open
Division (等)	II
Fanqie	古閑切
Baxter	kean
Reconstructions
Zhengzhang Shangfang	/kˠɛn/
Pan Wuyun	/kᵚæn/
Shao Rongfen	/kæn/
Edwin Pulleyblank	/kəɨn/
Li Rong	/kɛn/
Wang Li	/kæn/
Bernhard Karlgren	/kăn/
Expected Mandarin Reflex	jiān
Expected Cantonese Reflex	gaan1

• Old Chinese

  (Baxter–Sagart): /*kˤrə[r]/

  (Zhengzhang): /*krɯːn/

Baxter–Sagart system 1.1 (2014)
Character	艱
Reading #	1/1
Modern Beijing (Pinyin)	jiān
Middle Chinese	‹ kɛn ›
Old Chinese	/*kˁrə[r]/
English	difficulty
Notes for Old Chinese notations in the Baxter–Sagart system: * Parentheses "()" indicate uncertain presence; * Square brackets "[]" indicate uncertain identity, e.g. *[t] as coda may in fact be *-t or *-p; * Angle brackets "<>" indicate infix; * Hyphen "-" indicates morpheme boundary; * Period "." indicates syllable boundary.

Zhengzhang system (2003)
Character	艱
Reading #	1/1
No.	3912
Phonetic component	艮
Rime group	文
Rime subdivision	1
Corresponding MC rime	閒
Old Chinese	/*krɯːn/

Definitions

艱

1. difficult; hard
2. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) hardship; suffering
3. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) disaster
4. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) dangerous
5. (obsolete on its own in Standard Chinese) parent's death

Compounds

• 丁內艱 / 丁内艰
• 丁外艱 / 丁外艰
• 丁艱 / 丁艰 (dīngjiān)
• 人艱不拆 / 人艰不拆 (rénjiānbùchāi)
• 備嘗艱苦 / 备尝艰苦
• 內艱 / 内艰
• 共體時艱 / 共体时艰
• 創業維艱 / 创业维艰
• 國困民艱 / 国困民艰
• 國步艱難 / 国步艰难
• 外艱 / 外艰
• 委重投艱 / 委重投艰
• 時艱 / 时艰 (shíjiān)
• 步履維艱 / 步履维艰 (bùlǚwéijiān)
• 歷盡艱辛 / 历尽艰辛 (lìjìnjiānxīn)
• 歷盡艱險 / 历尽艰险
• 涉艱履危 / 涉艰履危
• 物力維艱 / 物力维艰
• 稼穡艱難 / 稼穑艰难
• 維艱 / 维艰 (wéijiān)
• 舉步維艱 / 举步维艰 (jǔbùwéijiān)
• 艱危 / 艰危 (jiānwēi)
• 艱困 / 艰困
• 艱子 / 艰子
• 艱巨 / 艰巨 (jiānjù)
• 艱深 / 艰深 (jiānshēn)
• 艱澀 / 艰涩 (jiānsè)
• 艱苦 / 艰苦 (jiānkǔ)
• 艱苦卓絕 / 艰苦卓绝 (jiānkǔzhuójué)
• 艱苦奮鬥 / 艰苦奋斗 (jiānkǔfèndòu)
• 艱虞 / 艰虞
• 艱貞 / 艰贞
• 艱辛 / 艰辛 (jiānxīn)
• 艱險 / 艰险 (jiānxiǎn)
• 艱難 / 艰难 (jiānnán)
• 艱難險阻 / 艰难险阻 (jiānnánxiǎnzǔ)
• 蒿目時艱 / 蒿目时艰
• 運拙時艱 / 运拙时艰
• 險阻艱難 / 险阻艰难

References

• “艱”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–

Japanese

Kanji

See also:

Category:Japanese terms spelled with 艱

艱

(Hyōgai kanji)

1. difficult

Readings

• Go-on: けん (ken)
• Kan-on: かん (kan)
• Kun: なやむ (nayamu, 艱む)、かたい (katai, 艱い)、なやみ (nayami)

Korean

Hanja

艱 • (gan) (hangeul 간, revised gan, McCune–Reischauer kan, Yale kan)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

Vietnamese

Han character

艱: Hán Nôm readings: gian

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.