Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Structures & Home

害: harm, injury

JLPT N310 strokesGrade 4Your ink: 白 Not met

宀 carries the meaning · 龶 and 口 are drawn in

10 strokes
  • Bronze · Western Zhou
  • Today

Bronze: Wikimedia Commons, traced from Academia Sinica, CC0. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

One reading, and the words that use it

ガイgai · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 害がいharm, damage
  • 被害ひがいdamage
  • 弊害へいがいan abuse, an evil
  • 公害こうがいpublic nuisance, pollution
  • 損害そんがいdamage, loss
  • 災害さいがいcalamity, disaster, misfortune
  • 障害者しょうがいしゃhandicapped person
  • 被害者ひがいしゃvictim, injured party, sufferer
  • 加害者かがいしゃassailant, perpetrator
  • 妨害するぼうがいするdisturb, obstruct, interfere
  • 阻害するそがいするblock, check, hinder
  • 侵害するしんがいするinfringe, violate, trespass

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)宀 (meaning) + 口 (meaning) + 丯 (sound)

Multiple theories:.

Source: Wiktionary, 害 (rev. 92501246), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Under one roof! Imagine the safety and warmth of a sturdy house at the end of a long day.”
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered

害 gives its sound to

The family reading is カツ (katsu). Sound parts: KanjiVG.

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
害 harm · 龶
vs官 bureaucrat
害 adds 龶.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · hài

Same form: 害 is written the same way in mainland China (simplified) and in Taiwan and Hong Kong (traditional).

Simplified
害 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
害 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin hài most common reading

Forms and pinyin: Unicode Unihan database (Unicode License v3). Pinyin lists the most common reading, not every reading.

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