倔强
jué jiàng · HSK 7
stubborn
🫏 倔 stubborn + 强 strong: too strong-willed to bend
The donkey is the classic stubborn animal that digs in and refuses to move. 强 also means strong/forceful, so 倔强 is a strength of will that won't yield to pressure.
倔 — person radical 亻 + 屈 (qū, bend/yield)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The left side 亻 (person) signals the meaning relates to human character, while 屈 supplies the sound (originally qū, now jué here) and the idea of 'bending' or 'yielding'. Combined, 倔 describes a person who refuses to bend — stubborn or unyielding.
强 — bow 弓 + elong 㔾 + insect 虫
Originally written 強, depicting a type of strong-shelled insect or weevil, with 虫 (insect) as semantic and 弘 as phonetic. The meaning shifted from the insect's tough shell to the general sense of 'strong, powerful, forceful.' The form 强 is a common variant where 弘 is replaced by 弓+口.