坚强
jiānqiáng · HSK 3
strong
💪 坚 (hard/solid) + 强 (strong) = solid-strong, i.e. staunch
坚 means hard or firm (think of a solid fortress radical 土 underneath); 强 means strong or powerful. Together 坚强 stacks two strength words to mean unyielding, resilient, staunch — strong in the face of pressure.
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.