Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement

欲: longing, covetousness

Also: greed, passion, desire, craving

JLPT N311 strokesGrade 6Your ink: 白 Not met

欠 carries the meaning · 谷 gives the sound

11 strokes
  • Bronze · Warring States
  • Today

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

Three readings, and the words that use each

ヨクyoku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 欲よくgreed
  • 食欲しょくよくappetite (for food)
  • 物欲ぶつよくmaterialistic desire
  • 意欲いよくambition
  • 知識欲ちしきよくintellectual thirst
  • 欲望よくぼうdesire
  • 欲張りよくばりgreedy
  • 貪欲などんよくなgreedy

ほっするhossuru · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 欲するほっするwant

ほしいhoshii · kun'yomi

  • 欲しいほしいwant [adj.]

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)谷 (sound) + 欠 (meaning)

Source: Wiktionary, 欲 (rev. 93946604), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Valley (谷) + lack (欠). Imagine a deep, empty valley and a yawning mouth combined—it represents a powerful, gaping hollow of wanting or needing.”
From the 欠 to lack story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
谷

Also built on valley (谷)

All 4

The 谷 family reads ヨウ (you); 欲 is read ヨク.

欠

Also built on to lack (欠)

All 14

Also read ヨク

6 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
欲 longing · 欠
vs容 contain · 宀
欲 has 欠 where 容 has 宀.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · yù

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

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

Pinyin yù 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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