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Kanji Detail for 惨 - "miserable, cruel"

惨

  • Meaning

    惨 means "miserable, cruel." Also associated with to grieve.

    1. Miserable - Painful; terrible; unbearably cruel.

    2. To grieve - To feel pain and sorrow; to suffer painfully.

  • Words using 惨

    • 惨事 さんじ Listen disaster; tragedy; tragic incident
    • 惨敗 ざんぱい Listen ignominious defeat; crushing failure; utterly beaten
    • 惨状 さんじょう Listen disastrous scene; terrible spectacle
    • 惨め みじめ Listen miserable; wretched; unhappy

  • Four-character idioms with 惨

    • 意匠惨憺 いしょうさんたん Listen taxing one's ingenuity in devising something; agonizing over designing or creating something; making strenuous efforts to devise good ways and means to do something
    • 疾痛惨憺 しっつうさんたん Listen terrible worry; extreme anxiety
    • 苦心惨憺 くしんさんたん Listen taking great pains

  • Tattoo check: 惨

    • Verified meaning: miserable, cruel
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read さん)
    • Also carries these associations: to grieve
    • Traditionally considered inauspicious in names — Japanese readers may find it an unlucky choice. Check the meanings above carefully before using it on skin.

    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.

  • Name readings of 惨

    Surnames 惨(さん)Listen

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    wretched; disaster; cruelty; harsh

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    sad, pitiful, wretched; cruel

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    miserable; wretched; cruel; inhuman; disastrous; tragic; dim; gloomy

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    miserable, wretched; cruel, inhuman

  • Onyomi

    tip

    san(サン) サン

    zan(ザン) ザン

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    ita.mu(いた-む) いた-む

    miji.me(みじ-め) みじ-め

    mugo.i(むご-い) むご-い

  • Strokes

    tip

    11 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    心 忄 (kokoro・shitagokoro・risshimben)

  • Related Keywords

    miserable to grieve cruel mournful unbearable wretched tragic disaster dreadful grim heartbreaking horrible painful pitiful sorrowful terrible appalling deplorable distressing grievous lamentable

Sentences including 惨

  • He lived a wretched life when young.

  • What a shame !

  • She died a miserable death.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 心 忄 (kokoro・shitagokoro・risshimben)

See all kanji with this radical →

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