Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

惨: wretched, disaster

Also: cruelty, harsh

JLPT N111 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

忄 carries the meaning · 参 gives the sound

11 strokes
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

Small seal: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Three readings, and the words that use each

サンsan · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 悲惨ひさん
  • 惨事さんじdisaster; tragedy; tragic incident
  • 惨状さんじょうdisastrous scene; terrible spectacle
  • 惨禍さんかcalamity; disaster; catastrophe

ザンzan · on'yomi

  • 惨敗ざんぱいignominious defeat; crushing failure

みじめmijime · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 惨めみじめmiserable; wretched; unhappy

Also read いたむ, むごい, with no example words in our sources. Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

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成り立ち

Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Feel the beat! When the heart "stands up" on the left side of a kanji, it brings the intense energy of emotion and thought.”
More in the ⺖ heart story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
忄

Also built on heart (忄)

All 34

Also read サン

18 kanji share this on'yomiAll 18

Also read ザン

3 kanji share this on'yomi
In ChineseSimplified, as in Japanese · traditional 慘 · cǎn

Japan uses the same simplified form as mainland China, 惨. Taiwan and Hong Kong write 慘.

Simplified
惨 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
慘 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin cǎn 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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