One of the best Japanese Kanji dictionary.

Share this page

Kanji for Dusk

The kanji most commonly used for "Dusk" are 暮、宵、昏.

Kanji that mean Dusk

  • dusk, to live, evening

    Onyomi: bo Kunyomi: ku.rasu, ku.reru 14 strokes Jōyō

  • evening, night

    Also associated with dusk.

    Onyomi: shoh Kunyomi: yoi 10 strokes Jōyō

  • dusk, dark, ignorant

    Onyomi: kon Kunyomi: kura.i, kure 8 strokes Jinmeiyō

  • vast

    Also associated with dusk, none.

    Onyomi: baku, bo, maku, mo, nai Kunyomi: kure, naka.re, nashi 10 strokes Jinmeiyō

  • evening, late

    Also associated with dusk.

    Onyomi: ban Kunyomi: kure, osoi 11 strokes Jinmeiyō

暮 is the character behind the everyday words for dusk: 夕暮れ (yūgure) and 日暮れ (higure), both built on the verb 暮れる, to grow dark. That verb has a second life — 暮らす means to live, to pass one’s days, and 暮らし is one’s livelihood — so 暮 is as much about time running out as about light fading. 歳暮 is the close of the year.

昏 is darkness itself rather than an hour of the day. It is the second character of 黄昏 (tasogare), the poetic word for twilight, and it also carries a sense of dimmed consciousness, as in 昏睡 (konsui, coma). It is a Jinmeiyō character and is almost never written alone in modern Japanese.

For dusk as a moment in the day, 暮 is the character a reader expects. 昏 reads darker and more literary, and needs a partner character to be understood.

Before you use Dusk kanji

暮 is the safer of the two and reads as evening or the closing of a day, though it equally suggests 暮らす, to live day to day. 昏 is uncommon on its own, and its other sense is clouded or dimmed consciousness, which is not the mood most people intend.

Other meanings to explore

See all kanji by meaning →

Share this link via

Or copy link