Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Nature & Elements

滅: destroy, ruin

Also: overthrow, perish

JLPT N113 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

氵 carries the meaning · 戌 and 火 are drawn in

13 strokes
  • Bronze · Zhou
  • Today

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

Two readings, and the words that use each

メツmetsu · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 絶滅ぜつめつextinction; extermination
  • 消滅しょうめつextinction; extinguishment; disappearance
  • 壊滅かいめつ
  • 撲滅ぼくめつeradication; extermination; destruction
  • 隠滅いんめつdestruction (esp. of evidence); spoliation
  • 破滅はめつruin; destruction; fall
  • 自滅じめつself-destruction; ruining oneself

ほろびるhorobiru · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 滅びるほろびるto go to ruin; to go under; to fall

Also read ほろぶ, ほろぼす, with no example words in our sources. Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

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
戌

Also built on 戌

火

Also built on fire (火)

All 17

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
滅 destroy · 氵 + 火
vs歳 year-end · 止 + 小
滅 has 氵 + 火 where 歳 has 止 + 小.
In ChineseSimplified 灭 · traditional, as in Japanese · miè

Japan keeps the traditional form 滅; mainland China simplifies it to 灭.

Simplified
灭 mainland China, Singapore
Traditional
滅 Taiwan, Hong Kong

Pinyin miè 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.