Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Human Body & People

憎: hate, detest

JLPT N214 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

忄 carries the meaning · 曽 gives the sound

14 strokes

Five readings, and the words that use each

ゾウzou · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 憎悪ぞうおhatred
  • 愛憎あいぞうlikes and dislikes

にくむnikumu · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 憎むにくむhate, detest
  • 憎まれっ子にくまれっこbad boy
  • 憎まれ口にくまれぐちabusive language

にくいnikui · kun'yomi

  • 憎いにくいhateful, abominable

にくらしいnikurashii · kun'yomi

  • 憎らしいにくらしいodious, hateful
  • 小憎らしいこにくらしいirritating, maddening

にくしみnikushimi · kun'yomi

  • 憎しみにくしみhatred

Special readingsThese words are read as a whole, not from the readings above.

  • 生憎あいにくunfortunately; Sorry, but ...

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Phono-semantic compound (形聲)心 heart, as 忄 (meaning) + 曾 (sound)

Source: Wiktionary, 憎 (rev. 93444033), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Heart (⺖) + increase/layer (増 variant). An emotion of "hatred" that "increases" and layers upon itself inside the "heart" until it is overwhelming.”
From 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
曽

Also built on formerly (曽)

憎 takes the 曽 family's reading, ソウ (sou).

Also read ゾウ

11 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
憎 hate · 忄
vs増 increase · 土
憎 has 忄 where 増 has 土.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · zēng

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

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

Pinyin zēng most common reading

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

One click tells us. No sign-up.