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难于登天

nán yú dēng tiāndictionary entry
DEFINITION CC-CEDICT
harder than climbing to heaven (idiom)
Sources & editorial notes

Reference definitions: CC-CEDICT contributors and MDBG, CC BY-SA 4.0. Source release 2026-10-27T01:55:52Z. Imported 2026-10-27. Definition wording and meaning order are retained. Recognized pronunciation references are displayed with tone marks; the original source record is available below.

Source record: cd-43aaf112329d5e50. Source SHA-256: bbc4b27f26bee1a262f4d7939667a040c7857c7fc0200a2fa7a86d3352a09eae.

Original source entry:

難於登天 难于登天 [nan2 yu2 deng1 tian1] /harder than climbing to heaven (idiom)/

Reference definitions and teaching material have separate provenance.

Reference information

The definitions above are from CC-CEDICT. Examples and usage notes are available on selected entries.

Character information

View the individual characters. Their meanings do not necessarily explain the meaning of the whole word.

Other forms in these source records: 難於登天

  • 难
    nán

    difficult (to...) / problem / difficulty / difficult / not good

    nàn

    disaster / distress / to scold

  • 于
    yú

    to go / to take / sentence-final interrogative particle / (of time or place) in / at / on / (indicating any indirect relation) to / toward / vis-à-vis / with regard to / for / (indicating a source) from / out of / (used in comparison) than / (used in the passive voice) by

    Yú

    surname Yu

  • 登
    dēng

    to scale (a height) / to ascend / to mount / to publish or record / to enter (e.g. in a register) / to press down with the foot / to step or tread on / to put on (shoes or trousers) (dialect) / to be gathered and taken to the threshing ground (old)

  • 天
    tiān

    day / sky / heaven

Reference definitions from CC-CEDICT.