艰难曲折

艱難曲折
jiānnánqūzhé
idiom #72,933

Meanings

  1. 1 hardship and twists and turns
  2. 2 (of a process or path) difficult and full of setbacks

Examples

Gǎigé de dàolù shì jiānnánqūzhé de.
The road of reform is full of hardship and twists.
Jīngguò jiānnánqūzhé de tánpàn, shuāngfāng zhōngyú dáchéng xiéyì.
After difficult and convoluted negotiations, the two sides finally reached an agreement.

Tips

register
Common in formal and political writing about long-term processes (reform, development, struggle, negotiation). Sounds heavy in casual conversation.
grammar
Functions as both adjective (艰难曲折道路) and predicate (道路艰难曲折). Often modifies abstract nouns: 道路, 过程, 历程, 斗争, 谈判.

Stroke Order

jiān
nán
zhé