Chinese Character Wiki
困

kùn

to trap, surround

Original meaning: 

doorway, threshold

Depicts a wooden (木) door frame (囗). Based on the original meaning "doorway, threshold". The meaning later expanded to "obstruct" and "trap".

Components
囗 iconic component

囗  Iconic component

wéi

  

surround

Depicts a door frame.

木 meaning component

木  Meaning component

mù

  

tree

Evolution

困 Oracle script (~1250-1000 BC)

Oracle script

(~1250-1000 BC)
困 Seal script Shuowen (~100 AD)

Seal script

Shuowen (~100 AD)
困 Clerical script Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)

Clerical script

Eastern Han dynasty (25-220 AD)
困 Regular script Modern

Regular script

Modern
Definitions

困  

kùn

to trap; to surround; hard-pressed; stranded; destitute

困 (睏) 

kùn

be tired, sleepy; sleepy; tired

Most common words with 困
Freq.
Word
Meaning

困难

difficult

困

to trap

困扰

to perplex

贫困

poverty

困惑

bewildered

Component uses

Sound component in 5 characters (1 verified)

睏 捆 閫 阃 悃

Historical pronunciation

Old Chinese

Middle Chinese

Pinyin

Gloss

*kʰˤu[n]-s

khwonH

kùn

obstruct; distress


Statistics

HSK level 3

Appears in 48.3421% of movies

933rd most common character in movies

868th most common character in books

Miscellaneous

Strokes

7

Traditional

睏

Unicode

U+56F0

Shuowen

“困，故廬也。从木在囗中。，古文困。”


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