Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

汚: dirty, pollute

Also: disgrace, rape, defile

JLPT N26 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

氵 carries the meaning · 亏 gives the sound

6 strokes

Seven readings, and the words that use each

オo · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 汚水おすいfilthy water, sewage
  • 汚物おぶつfilth, muck, dirt
  • 汚職おしょくcorruption, graft
  • 汚名おめいstigma, dishonor, infamy
  • 汚点おてんstain, blot, flaw, disgrace
  • 汚染するおせんするpollute, contaminate

けがすkegasu · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 汚すけがすdisgrace, dishonor [v.t.]

けがれるkegareru · kun'yomi

  • 汚れるけがれるbe corrupted, be polluted [v.i.]

けがらわしいkegarawashii · kun'yomi

  • 汚らわしいけがらわしいfilthy, obscene, dirty

よごすyogosu · kun'yomi

  • 汚すよごすmake dirty[v.t.]

よごれるyogoreru · kun'yomi

  • 汚れるよごれるget dirty, become dirty [v.i.]

きたないkitanai · kun'yomi

  • 汚いきたないdirty, unclean, filthy

Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 4.0.

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Where it comes from

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Imagine three raindrops falling—that's sanzui! Whenever you see these three dots on the left side of a kanji, think of water, liquids, or anything that flows.”
More in the 氵 water story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
氵

Also built on water (氵)

All 125

Also read オ

4 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
汚 dirty · 亏
vs汗 sweat · 干
汚 has 亏 where 汗 has 干.
In ChineseSimplified 洿 · traditional, as in Japanese · wū

Japan keeps the traditional form 汚; mainland China simplifies it to 洿.

Simplified
洿 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
汚 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin wū 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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