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Kanji Detail for 衰 - "to decline"

衰

  • Meaning

    衰 means "to decline." Also associated with to reduce, mourning clothes.

    1. To decline - To lose power or strength; to weaken.

    2. Mourning clothes - Funeral garments.

    3. To reduce - To decrease; to diminish; to differ.

  • Words using 衰

    • 老衰 ろうすい Listen senility; senile decay; infirmity (through age)
    • 衰え おとろえ Listen weakening; emaciation; decline
    • 衰弱 すいじゃく Listen weakness; debility; breakdown
    • 衰える おとろえる Listen to become weak; to decline; to wear

  • Four-character idioms with 衰

    • 栄枯盛衰 えいこせいすい Listen ups and downs of life; vicissitudes of fortune
    • 盛者必衰 じょうしゃひっすい Listen even the prosperous inevitably decay; sic transit gloria mundi; all that's fair must fade
    • 盛衰興亡 せいすいこうぼう Listen rise and fall; ups and downs; waxing and waning

  • Tattoo check: 衰

    • Verified meaning: to decline
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Also carries these associations: to reduce, mourning clothes

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    decline; wane; weaken

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    decline, falter, decrease; weaken

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    variant of 縗|缞[cui1]

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    weak, feeble; to decline, to falter

    XSZD Xuéshēng Zìdiǎn (學生字典) - Student's Dictionary

    The opposite of flourishing. Anything that gradually diminishes from a flourishing state is called 衰. Such as 衰微 (decline), 衰弱 (weaken). | Gradual decrease. Descending by fixed levels in succession. Such as 等衰 (gradations), meaning ranks. Appears in Zuo Zhuan. | Mourning garments. Made of raw hemp cloth. Those with unhemmed sides and bottom edges are called 斬衰 (coarse mourning). Made of processed hemp cloth. Those with hemmed sides and bottom edges are called 齊衰 (secondary mourning). Originally written as 縗.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    sui(スイ) スイ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    otoro.eru(おとろ-える) おとろ-える

  • Strokes

    tip

    10 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    衣 衤 (koromo・koromohen)

  • Related Keywords

    to decline to reduce mourning clothes decay weakening deterioration diminish fading waning withering atrophy degeneration failing funeral garments

Sentences including 衰

  • He declined in health.

  • He died of old age two years ago.

  • Do you ever feel like you're running down?

  • He was wasted away by illness.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 衣 衤 (koromo・koromohen)

See all kanji with this radical →

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