遇难
yù nàn · HSK 7
to perish
⚠️ 遇 = encounter + 难 = disaster: to meet with calamity, to perish
遇 means to encounter or run into, and 难 (nàn) means disaster or calamity. To encounter disaster is to die in an accident or be killed. Note 难 shifts to the falling tone nàn for the disaster meaning, versus nán for difficult.
遇 — 辶 (walk radical) + 禺 (phonetic, monkey)
遇 is a phono-semantic compound. The walking radical 辶 supplies the meaning of going or moving along a road, while 禺 (an old word depicting a monkey-like creature) provides the sound. Together they evoke encountering someone while traveling, giving the modern senses 'meet,' 'come across,' or 'treat.'
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.