難解|なんかいnankai[0]heiban (flat)

1. na-adjective, noundifficult to understand; unintelligible; abstruse
   現代詩げんだいしはしばしばきわめて難解なんかいだ。↗

   Modern poetry is often most obscure.

• Synonym不可解ふかかいNeutralBaffling or inexplicable: the emphasis is on leaving you puzzled, not necessarily on depth; 「難解」 implies profound, hard-to-read content.
• Synonym難いかたいWrittenWritten style, used like a suffix after verbs as in 「理解し難い」 to mean hard to do something; 「難解」 is a standalone word.
• Synonym晦渋かいじゅうWrittenWritten word for prose that is obscure and hard to read; it stresses awkward, convoluted expression rather than deep, difficult content.
• Related複雑ふくざつNeutralComplex or intricate: many tangled elements, but not necessarily hard to understand; 「難解」 always implies difficulty of comprehension.
• RelatedややこしいCasualColloquial for something tangled and troublesome to deal with, often with a note of irritation; 「難解」 describes deep, hard-to-read content.
• Related難しいむずかしいNeutralThe broadest word for difficult: covers anything hard to understand or hard to pull off, not just hard-to-read content, and is the everyday choice.
• Related困難こんなんNeutralStresses difficulty of execution, of getting something done or solved; it says nothing about whether a text is readable, which is 「難解」's core sense.
• RelatedとらえどころのないNeutralElusive rather than abstruse: it stresses something vague that slips away when you try to pin it down, while 「難解」 is about deep content that is hard to read.
• Related深奥しんおうWrittenWritten word stressing the depth and profundity of scholarship or thought; 「難解」 stresses that the content is hard to read and understand.
• Related不明瞭ふめいりょうNeutralUnclear or indistinct: the expression itself is vague or fuzzy, but the content need not be deep; 「難解」 implies profound, hard-to-read material.
• Related玄妙げんみょうWrittenWritten word for arcane profundity, carrying a mystical, mysterious coloring that 「難解」 does not have.
• Antonym平易へいいWrittenWritten antonym: plain and easy to understand, the direct opposite of deep, hard-to-read 「難解」.
• Antonym簡単かんたんNeutralEveryday antonym: simple and easy; it contrasts with 「難解」 but covers simplicity in general, not just the readability of texts.
• Antonym明瞭めいりょうNeutralClear and easy to follow: the opposite of the obscurity of 「難解」; use it when writing or speech is crisp and distinct.

Use 「難解」 for texts, theories or works whose content is deep and hard to understand, as in 「難解な哲学書」. In everyday speech, say 「難しい」 for anything hard to understand or do, or 「ややこしい」 for something tangled and annoying; 「不可解」 fits what leaves you baffled. The opposites are 「平易」 and 「明瞭」 for plain, clear writing.

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

1. 難むずかしく、分わかりにくい様子ようす。