# 難 — difficult; disaster

難 means “difficult; disaster”. It is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 18 strokes. On'yomi: ナン (nan). Kun'yomi: かた(い) (katai), むずか(しい) (muzukashii), むづか(しい) (muzukashii), むつか(しい) (mutsukashii). You'll see it in words such as 難しい (muzukashii, “difficult; hard”).

- Meaning: difficult; disaster
- On'yomi: ナン (nan)
- Kun'yomi: かた(い) (katai), むずか(しい) (muzukashii), むづか(しい) (muzukashii), むつか(しい) (mutsukashii)
- Strokes: 18
- Level: JLPT N3 · set Qualities 2

## How to remember 難

Grass (艹), a mouth (口), a husband (夫) and a bird (隹), all at once: difficult.

Parts: 艹 grass · 口 mouth; box · 夫 husband · 隹 bird

## Words with 難

| Word | Reading | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 難しい | むずかしい (muzukashii) | difficult; hard |
| 難 | なん (nan) | difficulty; trouble |
| 難なく | なんなく (nannaku) | without trouble; easily |

## More in the “Qualities 2” set

[容](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/contain/) · [必](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/certainly/) · [能](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/ability/) · [無](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/nothing/) · [状](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/condition/) · [可](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/possible/) · [難](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/difficult/) · [優](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/superior/)

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From Moji Ninja (https://moji.ninja/), a free app for learning hiragana, katakana and the JLPT kanji from N5 to N1 with spaced repetition. Page: https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/difficult/. Last updated 2026-11-01.