深奥

深奧
shēn'ào
adjective HSK 7-9 #16,832

Meanings

  1. 1 profound
  2. 2 abstruse
  3. 3 difficult to understand

Characters

Both characters convey depth - together they describe something intellectually deep and hard to grasp

Examples

HSK 4
Zhè piān lùnwén de nèiróng tài shēn'ào le.
The content of this paper is too abstruse.
HSK 4
Tā yòng jiǎndān de yǔyán jiěshì le shēn'ào de dàolǐ.
He explained profound truths in simple language.

Tips

usage
深奥 describes abstract, intellectual difficulty - philosophy, science, theory. Don't use it for physically difficult tasks. Compare with 深刻 (shēnkè, 'profound/deep') which describes impact or insight rather than difficulty.

Stroke Order

shēn
ào