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难上加难

難上加難
nánshàngjiānán
idiom #34,879

Meanings

  1. 1 difficulty on top of difficulty
  2. 2 extremely difficult
  3. 3 harder than hard

Examples

在这么短的时间内完成，简直是难上加难。
Zài zhème duǎn de shíjiān nèi wánchéng, jiǎnzhí shì nánshàngjiānán.
Finishing it in such a short time is simply difficulty piled on difficulty.
没有资金又没有经验，创业就是难上加难。
Méiyǒu zījīn yòu méiyǒu jīngyàn, chuàngyè jiù shì nánshàngjiānán.
With neither capital nor experience, starting a business is harder than hard.

Tips

memory
Literally 'hard, on top, add hard' — pile one 难 on another with 上加 ('add on top') in the middle. The structure X上加X is productive: 苦上加苦, 亲上加亲.

Stroke Order

难 nán
上 shàng
加 jiā