difficult

difficult - English

Pronunciation

IPA: /ˈdɪfɪkəlt/

Adjective

difficult (comparative difficulter or more difficult, superlative difficultest or most difficult)

Hard, not easy, requiring much effort.
- However, the difficult weather conditions will ensure Yunnan has plenty of freshwater.
(often of a person, or a horse, etc) Hard to manage, uncooperative, troublesome.
- Stop being difficult and eat your broccoli—you know it's good for you.
(obsolete) Unable or unwilling.

Usage notes

Difficult implies that considerable mental effort or physical skill is required, or that obstacles are to be overcome which call for sagacity and skill in the doer; as, a difficult task. Thus, “hard” is not always synonymous with difficult. Examples include a difficult operation in surgery and a difficult passage by an author (that is, a passage which is hard to understand).

Synonyms

burdensome, cumbersome, hard
see also difficult

Derived terms

difficult nut to crack (“difficult pill to swallow”)

Translations

Afrikaans: moeilik
Albanian: i vështirë (sq)
Amharic: አስቸጋሪ (ʾäsčägari)
Arabic: صَعْب‎ (ṣaʕb)
- Moroccan Arabic: واعر‎ (waʕr)
Armenian: դժվար (hy) (džvar), բարդ (hy) (bard), ծանր (hy) (canr)
Assamese: টান (tan)
Asturian: difícil (ast)
Azerbaijani: çətin (az), düşvar
Bashkir: ҡыйын (qıyın), ауыр (awır)
Basque: nekez (eu)
Belarusian: ця́жкі (be) (cjážki), тру́дны (trúdny)
Bengali: কঠিন (bn) (koṭhin)
Bikol Central:
- Bikol Legazpi: dipisil (bcl)
- Bikol Naga: masakit
Breton: diaes (br)
Brunei Malay: payah
Bulgarian: тру́ден (bg) (trúden), мъ́чен (bg) (mǎ́čen), те́жък (bg) (téžǎk)
Burmese: ခဲယဉ်း (my) (hkai:yany:), ခက် (my) (hkak)
Catalan: difícil (ca)
Cebuano: lisud
Chamicuro: yeewa
Chechen: хала (xala)
Cherokee: ᎤᏦᏍᏗ (utsosdi), ᏍᏓᏯ (sdaya)
Chinese:
- Cantonese: 難／难 (naan⁴), 困難／困难 (kwan³ naan⁴)
- Mandarin: 難／难 (zh) (nán), 困難／困难 (zh) (kùnnán), 艱難／艰难 (zh) (jiānnán)
- Wu: 難／难 (ne̞²³)
Chukchi: аӈъачеты (aṇʺačety)
Crimean Tatar: qıyın
Czech: obtížný (cs), těžký (cs)
Danish: vanskelig
Dutch: lastig (nl), moeilijk (nl)
Egyptian: (qsn)
Esperanto: malfacila
Estonian: keeruline (et)
Faroese: torførur
Finnish: vaikea (fi), hankala (fi)
French: difficile (fr)
Galician: difícil (gl)
Georgian: ძნელი (ʒneli), რთული (rtuli), მძიმე (ka) (mʒime)
German: schwer (de), schwierig (de)
Gothic: 𐌰𐌲𐌻𐌿𐍃 (aglus)
Greek: δύσκολος (el) (dýskolos)
- Ancient: χαλεπός (khalepós), δυσχερής (duskherḗs)
Greenlandic: sapernarpoq
Gujarati: કઠિન (kaṭhin)
Haitian Creole: difisil
Hebrew: קָשֶׁה‎ (he) (kashé), מסובך‎ (mesubbakh)
Hindi: कठिन (hi) (kaṭhin), विकट (hi) (vikaṭ), मुश्किल (hi) (muśkil), दुश्वार (hi) (duśvār)
Hungarian: nehéz (hu)
Icelandic: erfiður (is)
Ido: desfacila (io)
Ilocano: narigat
Indonesian: sukar (id), susah (id), sulit (id)
Ingush: хала (xala)
Interlingua: difficile
Irish: deacair, anfhurasta, anacair, achrannach (of terrain), doiligh
Italian: difficile (it)
Japanese: 難しい (ja) (むずかしい, muzukashii), 困難な (ja) (こんなんな, konnan na)
Kabuverdianu: puxadu, pexóde, rabés
Kannada: ಕಟ್ (kn) (kaṭ)
Kazakh: қиын (kk) (qiyn), ауыр (kk) (auyr)
Khmer: ពិបាក (km) (pi’baak), យ៉ាប់ (km) (yap)
Korean: 어렵다 (ko) (eoryeopda), 힘들다 (ko) (himdeulda)
Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: زەحمەت‎ (ckb) (zeḧmet), گران‎ (ckb) (gran), سەخت‎ (ckb) (sext)
Kyrgyz: кыйын (ky) (kıyın), оор (ky) (oor)
Ladino: difísil, zor
Lao: ຍາກ (nyāk)
Latin: difficilis (la)
Latvian: sarežģīts, grūts
Lithuanian: sunkus (lt)
Macedonian: тежок (težok), мачен (mačen)
Malay: sukar (ms), susah (ms)
Maltese: diffiċli (mt)
Manx: doillee, creoi, trome, mooar, neuaashagh
Maori: whēuaua, uaua, taumaha hārukiruki (in the extreme)
Marathi: अवघड (mr) (avghaḍ), कठीण (mr) (kaṭhīṇ)
Mirandese: defícel
Mon: ဝါတ် (wāt)
Mongolian: хэцүү (mn) (xecüü), хүнд (mn) (xünd), бэрх (mn) (berx), хүчир (mn) (xüčir)
Navajo: nantłʼah
Norwegian: vanskelig (no)
Occitan: malaisit (oc), dificil (oc) m
Old Church Slavonic:
- Cyrillic: тѩжькъ (tjęžĭkŭ)
Old English: earfoþe
Pashto: ګران‎ m (grân), مشکل‎ m (muškil)
Persian: دشوار‎ (fa) (došvâr), مشکل‎ (fa) (moškel), سخت‎ (fa) (saxt), صعب‎ (fa) (sa'b)
Polish: trudny (pl), ciężki (pl)
Portuguese: difícil (pt)
Punjabi: ਕਠਿਨ (kaṭhin)
Quechua: sasa
Romanian: greu (ro), dificil (ro), anevoios (ro), complicat (ro)
Russian: тру́дный (ru) m (trúdnyj), тяжёлый (ru) (tjažólyj), тя́жкий (ru) (tjážkij), сло́жный (ru) (slóžnyj)
Samoan: faigatā
Sanskrit: कठिन (sa) (kaṭhina)
Scottish Gaelic: doirbh, mì-fhurasda, cruaidh, trom, duilich
Serbo-Croatian:
- Cyrillic: тежак
- Roman: težak (sh)
Sinhalese: අමාරු (amāru)
Slovak: obtiažny, ťažký
Slovene: težek (sl)
Sorbian:
- Upper Sorbian: ćežki
Spanish: difícil (es)
Swedish: svår (sv)
Tagalog: mahirap
Tajik: мушкил (tg) (muškil), душвор (dušvor), сахт (tg) (saxt)
Tamil: கடினமான (ta) (kaṭiṉamāṉa)
Tatar: кыен (qıyen), авыр (tt) (awır)
Telugu: కఠినమైన (te) (kaṭhinamaina), కష్టమైన (te) (kaṣṭamaina)
Tetum: susar
Thai: ยาก (th) (yâak), ลำบาก (th) (lam-bàak)
Tibetan: ཁག་པོ (khag po), དཀའ་ལས་ཁག་པོ (dka' las khag po), དཀའ་མོ (dka' mo), དཀའ་ངལ་ཅན (dka' ngal can)
Tocharian B: waimene, āmāskai
Tongan: faingataʻa
Turkish: zor (tr), güç (tr), müşkül (tr), çetin (tr), kıyın (tr), düşvar, ağır (tr)
Turkmen: çatak, çetin, kyn, müçgil
Ukrainian: важки́й (uk) (važkýj), трудни́й (trudnýj)
Urdu: مشکل‎ (muśkil), دشوار‎ (duśvār), کٹھن‎ (kaṭhin)
Uyghur: قىيىن‎ (qiyin), مۈشكۈل‎ (müshkül)
Uzbek: qiyin (uz), mushkul (uz), murakkab (uz)
Vietnamese: khó (vi), khó khăn (vi)
Volapük: fikulik (vo)
Welsh: anodd (cy), caled (cy)
West Frisian: swier (fy)
Yiddish: שווער‎ (shver), האַרב‎ (harb)
Yoruba: le

Greek:
- Ancient: χαλεπός (khalepós)
Kabuverdianu: rabés
Latin: difficilis (la)

Verb

difficult (third-person singular simple present difficults, present participle difficulting, simple past and past participle difficulted)

(obsolete, transitive) To make difficult; to impede; to perplex.

Translations

Catalan: dificultar (ca)
Portuguese: dificultar (pt)
Spanish: dificultar (es)