Hard

The word hard can have several meanings. As an adjective, hard talks of the consistency of an object - a hard object will not yield under the exertion of pressure. In this context, the opposite is soft. As an adverb, this word has a different meaning; in this sense, it may mean difficult. For example a child referring to his/her homework may say "this work is too hard" meaning it is too difficult to understand or complete.

In phonetics, hard can be used to describe different consonantal sounds. See, for example, hard (consonant).