HSK 6 · Emotions

难堪 nánkān “embarrassed” in Chinese

Traditional 難堪

What 难堪 means

  1. embarrassed
  2. awkward
  3. hard to bear
  4. hard to take

How to say 难堪

  • Pitch chart of the second tone: rises from mid to high, 3 to 5 on the five-level scale难nán2nd tone, rising
  • Pitch chart of the first tone: stays high and level, 5 to 5 on the five-level scale堪kān1st tone, high and level

难堪 in a sentence

  1. 我没想要让你难堪。

    Wǒ méi xiǎngyào ràng nǐ nánkān.

    I didn’t mean to embarrass you.

    Sentence #13138228 from Tatoeba · converted to simplified characters · translation adapted

How 难堪 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 难 (nán) with each of its parts in a different colour
难nándifficult
  • 又again · yòu
  • 隹short-tailed bird · zhuī

Memory aidPicture a hand 又 trying to catch a bird 隹: difficult.

The character 堪 (kān) with each of its parts in a different colour
堪kānmay; can
  • 土earth · tǔ
  • 甚considerably · shèn

How to write 难堪

难 10 strokes · 堪 12 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

难堪 (nánkān) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 难堪 (nánkān). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 难堪

Words with 难

难nán · difficult难过nánguò · be grieved难题nántí · difficult problem难看nánkàn · ugly难听nántīng · unpleasant to hear困难kùnnan · difficult难受nánshòu · to feel unwell难道nándào · don’t tell me …难免nánmiǎn · hard to avoid难怪nánguài · (it’s) no wonder (that…)

Words with 堪

不堪bùkān · unbearable

More words: Emotions & Attitudes

茫然mángrán · at a loss藐视miǎoshì · to despise蔑视mièshì · to despise纳闷儿nàmènr · to feel puzzled恼火nǎohuǒ · annoyed迫不及待pòbùjídài · too impatient to wait魄力pòlì · boldness气概qìgài · spirit

FAQs

难堪 (nánkān) means “embarrassed” or “awkward”. It is an HSK 6 word.
Say it nánkān: nán with a 2nd tone, then kān with a 1st tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 难堪 is written 難堪. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type nankan with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 难堪 from the suggestions. Typing nankan into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
难堪 is an HSK 6 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.