苦难
kǔ nàn · HSK 7
suffering
😣 苦 (kǔ, bitter) + 难 (nàn, calamity) = bitterness + hardship = suffering
苦 literally means bitter, the taste, and extends to hardship. 难 here is nàn (4th tone), meaning calamity or disaster, not nán meaning difficult. Together: deep suffering or misery.
苦 — grass radical 艹 + 古 (old)
Originally referred to a bitter-tasting plant, with the grass radical 艹 indicating its botanical nature and 古 providing the phonetic element. The meaning extended from the literal bitter taste to figurative senses of hardship, suffering, and painful effort.
难 — 又 (right hand) + 隹 (short-tailed bird)
Originally written with 堇 (clay) plus 隹 (bird), 難 depicted a rare bird and was borrowed to mean 'difficult.' The modern simplified form replaces the left side with 又 (hand). The phonetic role of the original left component gave the reading nán.