苦難|くなんkunan[1]atamadaka (head-high)

1. nounsuffering; distress; hardship; trial
   彼かれ等らは多おおくの苦難くなんをたえしのんだ。↗

   They endured many difficulties.

• Synonym辛苦しんくWrittenWritten; toil and hardship, stressing weariness from hard labor; often in 「辛苦を重ねる」.
• Synonym困難こんなんNeutralThe broadest word for difficulty, something hard to do or carry out; 「苦難」 stresses suffering endured in life.
• Synonym辛酸しんさんWrittenWritten; hardship tasted as bitter experience, typically in 「辛酸をなめる」.
• Synonym困苦こんくWrittenWritten and rare; privation and hardship, material or mental. 「苦難」 is more common and stresses hardship actually endured.
• Related苦境くきょうNeutralA difficult situation or predicament, as in 「苦境に立つ」; stresses the position one is in rather than the suffering itself.
• Related試練しれんNeutralA hardship that tests one's will or faith; stresses the sense of a trial rather than the suffering itself.
• Related憂き目うきめNeutralA bitter, unlucky experience, usually in 「…の憂き目に遭う」, as in 「倒産の憂き目」.
• Related不幸せふしあわせNeutralUnhappiness, the state of not being happy, also misfortune; 「苦難」 stresses the suffering one endures.
• Related苦しみくるしみNeutralThe everyday, widely used word for pain and anguish; 「苦難」 leans written and means hardship endured in life.
• Related多難たなんWrittenWritten; beset by many troubles, often in 「前途多難」; stresses difficult prospects ahead.
• Related荒波あらなみNeutralLiterally raging waves; by metaphor, the harshness of the world, as in 「世の荒波」.
• Related困窮こんきゅうWrittenWritten; poverty and destitution, also being at a loss for a way out; stresses financial hardship.
• Related苦杯くはいWrittenWritten; a bitter cup, metaphor for a painful defeat or experience, often in 「苦杯をなめる」.
• Related労苦ろうくWrittenWritten; toil and labor expended, as in 「長年の労苦」; stresses the effort one puts in.
• Related青息吐息あおいきといきCasualColloquial and vivid; the image of sighing in despair, driven to one's wits' end.
• Related逆境ぎゃっきょうNeutralAdverse circumstances, the opposite of favorable ones; stresses the environment one finds oneself in.
• Related責め苦せめくWrittenWritten; torment inflicted on someone, also the pains of hell; much heavier in tone than 「苦難」.
• Related難儀なんぎNeutralTrouble and hardship, also being put out or at a loss; somewhat old-fashioned in tone.
• Related惨苦さんくWrittenWritten and rare; agony of the most extreme kind, heavier in tone than 「苦難」.
• Related貧苦ひんくWrittenWritten; suffering caused by poverty, and only that; 「苦難」 covers hardship of any kind.
• Related悲境ひきょうWrittenWritten and rare; a wretched state of affairs; stresses the circumstances rather than the suffering endured.
• Related御難ごなんNeutralA polite way to say misfortune or calamity, sometimes with a teasing nuance, as in 「とんだご難」.
• Related苦くWrittenWritten; suffering itself, also the Buddhist term for it; mostly seen in compounds.
• Related苦患くげんWrittenA Buddhist term for hellish torment; very rare.
• Antonym幸福こうふくNeutralContentment and happiness; the opposite of 「苦難」, which is about the hardship one suffers.
• Antonym安楽あんらくNeutralComfort and ease of body and mind; contrasts with the hardship of 「苦難」.
• Antonym平穏へいおんNeutralPeace and calm, with nothing amiss; the opposite of the turbulence and hardship of 「苦難」.

Use 「苦難」 for the suffering and hardship one endures in life. For difficulty in general say 「困難」; for a predicament, 「苦境」 or 「逆境」; for a hardship that tests you, 「試練」; and for tasting hardship, 「辛酸をなめる」. 「苦しみ」 is the broad everyday word for pain, while 「困窮」 and 「貧苦」 are tied to poverty.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

1. 苦くるしみや難儀なんぎ。