轗かん軻か

か

ん

か

Meanings

separation from the world; world-weariness; retirement from worldly affairs

Literary and rare; refers to a state of being detached from worldly concerns, often with a nuance of hardship or frustration leading to withdrawal. Found in classical Chinese-influenced texts.

彼かれは轗かん軻かの思おもいを抱いだいて隠いん遁とんした。
He retired from the world with a feeling of world-weariness.

See all 2 example sentences ›

Kanji

轗difficulty, misfortune
軻difficult progress
坎pitfall
坷clod of earth, lump of soil

Related words

隠いん遁とん
隠遁 is the more common term for retiring from the world; 轗軻 emphasizes the emotional state of frustration or disillusionment leading to that withdrawal.
厭えん世せい
厭世 means pessimism or world-weariness in a general sense, while 轗軻 specifically implies separation or withdrawal as a result of such feelings.

Word family

轗かん軻か不ふ遇ぐう
neglected by the world; denied deserved recognition

Written forms

轗かん軻か
Rare kanji form; the word is literary and uncommon in modern writing.
坎かん軻か
Variant kanji form, also rare.
坎かん坷か
out-dated kanji form
Contains out-dated kanji usage; not used in modern Japanese.

Etymology

From Chinese 轗軻 (kǎnkē), originally meaning 'rough road' or 'hardship', later extended to 'frustration' and 'separation from the world'. The Japanese reading かんか is the on'yomi of the characters.