艰险
jiān xiǎn · HSK 7
difficult and dangerous
⛰️ 艰险 = 艰 (arduous, hard) + 险 (danger, peril) = hardships and perils
艰 carries the sense of grueling difficulty; 险 means risk or a treacherous spot like a cliff. Together they describe a path that is both backbreaking and life-threatening.
险 — 阝(阜, mound) + 佥 (qiān, all/together)
Originally written 險 in traditional form, this is a semantic-phonetic compound. The 阝 (mound/hill) radical signals the original meaning of steep, dangerous terrain, while 佥 provided the sound. From rugged cliffs the meaning extended metaphorically to 'danger' and 'risk' in general.