TSUMUGU · TOCFL 1 (est.) · 字
難
難 ＝ 堇 ＋ 隹
ㄋㄢˊ · nán/nàn
adj — hard, difficult (困難); noun (nàn) — disaster, trouble (災難)
字源 FORM — what the parts do
堇聲nán — gives the soundthe left block is 堇, a clay/scarcity element worn flat; it also carries 勤、謹、漢
隹義a short-tailed bird
The graph first named a kind of bird — 隹 on the right, 堇 on the left carrying the sound. The bird sense dropped out; the sound borrowed in the everyday word for what is hard to do, and from hardship its other reading, disaster: 困難、難過、災難.
故事 STORY — a scene to remember it by
鳥（隹）困在荒地（堇）裡，飛不走——難。
The bird (隹) trapped on barren ground (堇), unable to get away — hard going.
字源記憶法
意 · Meanings
nán
(本義)一種鳥— a kind of bird (the original sense)
→困難、難過— hard, difficult常用
⇒難得、難免— hard to come by; hard to avoid常用
nàn
(引申)災難、難民— disaster; refugee常用
→責難、發難— to blame; to rise against
(本義) original meaning · → ⇒ each arrow = one more step of extension