艱
jiān

difficult

Originally pictograph of person (卩 or 女) guarding a drum (壴) to report difficulties. Later reanalyzed as a compound of 𦰩 and 艮, which both represent the sound.

Components

𦰩
𦰩 SoundIconic component
jiān to sigh

Depicts a person reporting difficulties. Originally written as 卩 or 女.

艮
艮 Sound component
gěn, gèn, hén blunt

Originally written as 壴 but later reanalyzed as 艮 to represent the sound.

Change in form
Due to historical stylistic changes, this component is less similar to 艮 than it was in ancient scripts.

Character Evolution

Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Oracle form
Oracle Bone ~1250-1000 BC
Bronze form
Bronze Late Western Zhou ~800 BC
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Seal form
Seal Shuowen ~100 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Clerical form
Clerical Eastern Han 25-220 AD
Regular Modern

Historical Pronunciations

Middle ChineseOld ChineseGloss
Baxter-Sagartkeankˤrə[r] difficulty

說文解字

《說文》：“艱，土難治也。从堇，艮聲。囏，籀文艱从喜。”

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫季旭昇《說文新證》p.912-913
Readings & variants
Unicode
Historical pronunciations
Baxter-Sagart
Historical images
Academia Sinica
Etymology
Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字)

艰 jiān difficult Simplified

Simplified form of 艱. Originally pictograph of person (卩 or 女) guarding a drum (壴) to report difficulties. Later reanalyzed as a compound of 𦰩 and 艮, which both represent the sound.

Components

又
又 Simplified component
yòu again

Shorthand for the 𦰩 component in the traditional character 艱.

艮
艮 Sound component
gěn, gèn, hén blunt

Originally written as 壴 but later reanalyzed as 艮 to represent the sound.

Sources

Character origin
漢語多功能字庫
Readings & variants
Unicode