蹇

• Physical: Lame, crippled, or limping; a failure of the mechanism of walking.
• Situational: An obstruction, impasse, or "hard going" that renders forward progress impossible or dangerous.
• Divinatory/Strategic: A misfortune characterized by a blocked path, signaling that a current trajectory must be abandoned or altered.

• Adjective: Describing a person (lame) or a situation (precarious/difficult).
• Noun: The obstacle itself; the state of being hindered.
• Verb: To limp; to be hampered; to encounter an obstruction that forces a cessation of movement.

// vs. 難 (nán): While //nán* refers to general difficulty or effort, 蹇 emphasizes stasis and the inability to move forward.

// vs. 阻 (zǔ): While //zǔ* often denotes the physical barrier itself, 蹇 focuses on the experience of being blocked and the resulting impairment of progress.

// vs. 困 (kùn): While //kùn* implies confinement or exhaustion, 蹇 specifically concerns wayfinding—the path ahead is closed rather than the subject being trapped.

Avoid translating as a generic term for "hardship." The glyph retains a spatial and kinetic quality. If the text suggests physical struggle, "limping" or "hampered" is appropriate; if the context is political, spiritual, or strategic, terms like "impasse," "obstruction," or "blocked path" better preserve the internal logic of the term.