顽强
wán qiáng · HSK 6
tenacious
🪨💪 顽 stubborn + 强 strong = stubbornly unbreakable
顽 originally referred to a hard unpolished stone — something that refuses to yield. Pair it with 强 (strong) and you get a grit that outlasts any pressure.
强 — bow 弓 + elong 㔾 + insect 虫
Originally written 強, depicting a type of strong-shelled insect or weevil, with 虫 (insect) as semantic and 弘 as phonetic. The meaning shifted from the insect's tough shell to the general sense of 'strong, powerful, forceful.' The form 强 is a common variant where 弘 is replaced by 弓+口.