难堪
nán kān · HSK 7
embarrassed
😳 难 hard + 堪 to bear = hard to bear, so awkward or embarrassed
难 means difficult and 堪 means to endure or withstand; together they describe a situation too hard to endure, leaving you embarrassed. Sound cue: nán kān runs close to none can stand it.
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.