硬
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hard; stiff; solid; (fig.) strong; firm; resolutely; uncompromisingly; laboriously; with great difficulty; good (quality); able (person); (of food) filling; substantial
Formation & memory
Break the character into parts you already know.
Words with 硬
The most common words first — learning a character in context makes it stick.
| Word | Pinyin | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 多发性硬化症 | multiple sclerosis | |
| 硬生生 | stiff; rigid; inflexible; forcibly | |
| 硬着头皮 | to brace oneself to do sth; to put a bold face on it; to summon up courage; to force onese… | |
| 硬实力 | hard power (i.e. military and economic power) | |
| 硬骨头 | resolute individual; a hard nut to crack; tough mission; difficult task | |
| 硬件平台 | hardware platform | |
| 硬水 | hard water (cf. 軟水|软水[ruan3 shui3], soft water) | |
| 硬底子 | (esp. of an actor) strong; capable | |
| 心硬 | hard-hearted; unfeeling; callous | |
| 生硬 | rigid; stiff; lacking naturalness or smoothness; awkward; forced | |
| 动脉硬化 | hardening of the arteries; arteriosclerosis | |
| 强硬立场 | tough position | |
| 硬性 | rigid; inflexible; hard (drug) | |
| 硬拉 | deadlift | |
| 硬骨鱼 | bony fishes; Osteichthyes (taxonomic class including most fish) | |
| 硬化 | to harden; (medicine) sclerosis; (fig.) to become inflexible in one's opinions; to ossify | |
| 硬气 | firm; unyielding; strong-willed | |
| 硬体 | (Tw) (computer) hardware | |
| 吃硬不吃软 | susceptible to force but not persuasion | |
| 吃软不吃硬 | lit. eats soft food, but refuses hard food (idiom); amenable to coaxing but not coercion |
Sound family
Characters sharing the sound component 更 — compare how they read.