The Chinese word 苦难 (kǔnàn) is a compound term formed by combining two semantically related characters: 苦 (kǔ), which primarily means "bitterness", "hardship", or "suffering", and 难 (nàn), which in this context means "disaster", "calamity", or "adversity". Each character reinforces and intensifies the meaning of the other, creating a single, cohesive concept that denotes profound and often enduring suffering, misery, or tribulation. This formation follows a common pattern in Chinese lexicon where two synonyms or near-synonyms are paired to express a more abstract, nuanced, or emphatic idea, in this case, a state of extreme hardship and distress.