Chinese symbol for “distress”
难
nàn
Traditional: 難
disaster; distress; to scold
The closest CC-CEDICT match for distress is 难 (nàn), defined as: disaster; distress; to scold.
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Characters and stroke order
Traditional forms
Other Chinese words for “distress”
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 哀伤 (哀傷) | āi shāng | grief; distress; bereavement; grieved; heartbroken; dejected |
| 瘼 | mò | distress; sickness |
| 受难 (受難) | shòu nàn | to suffer a calamity; to suffer (e.g. under torture) |
| 愁苦 | chóu kǔ | anxiety; distress |
| 苦处 (苦處) | kǔ chu | suffering; distress |
Related words
Other words that share a character with 难.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 困难 (困難) | kùn nan | difficult; challenging |
| 难道 (難道) | nán dào | don't tell me ...; could it be that...? |
| 难以 (難以) | nán yǐ | hard to (predict, imagine etc) |
| 难过 (難過) | nán guò | to feel sad; to feel unwell |
| 难民 (難民) | nàn mín | refugee |
| 灾难 (災難) | zāi nàn | disaster; catastrophe |
See also: Japanese symbol for “distress”.
Data: CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0); Unihan Database (Unicode License v3); Make Me a Hanzi (Arphic Public License (graphics.txt); LGPL-3.0-or-later (dictionary.txt)); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.