避难
bì nàn · HSK 7
to take refuge
🏠 避难 = avoid + disaster — flee calamity to find shelter
避 (avoid/evade) + 难 (disaster/hardship). The compound literally means 'evade calamity,' hence seeking a safe place away from danger or persecution.
避 — 辟 (phonetic) + 辶 (walk radical)
避 is a semantic-phonetic compound. The walking radical 辶 gives the meaning 'go, move,' while 辟 (bì/pì) supplies the sound. Together they convey moving away from something — hence 'avoid, evade, shun.'
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.