艰
Character learning workspace

jiān · difficult, hard

Master the form, understand its parts, and learn how it behaves in real Chinese.

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Learn every stroke in 艰

Replay the complete order, pause on difficult movements, inspect one stroke at a time, then write it yourself with live correction.

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Stroke graphics: Make Me a Hanzi / Arphic Public License
Step-by-step explorer

See how 艰 is constructed

Switch between the accumulated form and the isolated movement of each stroke.

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Writing notes

Shape and proportion

8Total strokes

Count each continuous pen movement once, including turns and hooks.

Left-rightCharacter structure

Keep the left side compact and leave enough room for the right side.

又Key radical

Use the highlighted radical in the animation as a visual anchor for remembering the form.

Print and practise

Download a 艰 writing sheet

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Includes the stroke sequence, progressive tracing, and blank writing squares. Generated locally in your browser.

Vocabulary in context

Common words with 艰

Open a word for its full breakdown, or listen before reading the meaning.

Read and listen

Example sentences

Notice where 艰 sits in each complete thought.

Bù guǎn xùn liàn duō me jiān kǔ, tā dōu méi yǒu kū guò.不管训练多么艰苦,她都没有哭过。

No matter how hard the training was, she never cried.

Source: Tatoeba #3035567 · CC BY 2.0 FR
Zhège yuè wǒ guò dé yǒu diǎn jiān nán.这个月我过得有点艰难。

This month was kind of difficult.

Source: Tatoeba #8730053 · CC BY 2.0 FR
Wǒ lǎo bǎn bǎ jiān jù de rènwu zhǐ pài gěi le wǒ.我老板把艰巨的任务指派给了我。

My boss assigned the hard job to me.

Source: Tatoeba #334615 · CC BY 2.0 FR
Zhè bù gōng píng! píng shén me wǒ bì xū zuò jiān kǔ de gōng zuò.这不公平!凭什么我必须做艰苦的工作。

It's not fair! I have to do the hard work!

Source: Tatoeba #347711 · CC BY 2.0 FR
Shēng huó hěn jiān kǔ.生活很艰苦。

Life has been very hard.

Source: Tatoeba #6132212 · CC BY 2.0 FR
Zhè shì gè hěn jiān nán de dòu zhēng.这是个很艰难的斗争。

It was an uphill struggle.

Source: Tatoeba #9958525 · CC BY 2.0 FR
Turn reference into recall

How to study 艰 in context

  1. Say jiān, then recall the core meaning: difficult, hard.
  2. Write all 8 strokes while keeping the left-right balanced.
  3. Use it in 艰苦 (jiān kǔ), meaning “difficult”.
  4. Read the complete sentence aloud once, then cover the translation and explain how 艰 works in that context.

Definitions and traditional forms are compiled from Make Me a Hanzi, HSK curriculum data, and CC-CEDICT. Sourced example sentences link to Tatoeba; editorial examples are labeled separately. Review data sources and licenses.