困難
こんなん · konnan · JLPT N3 · noun
trouble
🧱 困難 = 困 trouble + 難 hard: trouble that is hard to get out of
困 shows up in 困る (komaru, to be in trouble), and 難 shows up in 難しい (muzukashii, difficult). Put them together and you get serious difficulty. Sound hook: konnan sounds like can't, man, which is what you say when you hit a wall.
困 — enclosure 囗 + tree 木
困 is an associative compound showing a tree (木) confined within an enclosure (囗), suggesting something hemmed in and unable to grow. From this image of restriction came the meanings 'trapped,' 'distressed,' and by extension 'tired' or 'sleepy,' as if one's energy were boxed in.