Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Textiles, Plants & Food

衰: decline, wane

Also: weaken

JLPT N110 strokesSecondary schoolYour ink: 白 Not met

衣 carries the meaning · 口 is drawn in

10 strokes
  • Oracle bone · Shang
  • Bronze · Zhou
  • Today

Oracle bone and bronze: Wikimedia Commons, public domain. Today’s form: KanjiVG, CC BY-SA 3.0.

Two readings, and the words that use each

スイsui · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 老衰ろうすいsenility; senile decay
  • 衰退すいたいdecline; degeneration; decay
  • 衰弱すいじゃくweakness; debility; breakdown
  • 盛衰せいすい

おとろえるotoroeru · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 衰えおとろえweakening; emaciation; decline
  • 衰えるおとろえるto become weak; to decline; to wear

Words: JMdict, EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Learn it 4 steps
Print sheet Present
成り立ち

Where it comes from

Origin · sourced

Pictogram (象形)

A piece of clothing made from palm fibers to be used as a raincoat (original form of 蓑).

Source: Wiktionary, 衰 (rev. 93466925), CC BY-SA 4.0

Memory story · made up to help you remember

“Clothes (衣) + a mark of age. Imagine someone's "clothes" becoming worn, thin, and ragged over time—the symbol of physical or social "decline."”
From the 衣 clothes story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
衣

Also built on clothes (衣)

All 17
口

Also built on mouth (口)

All 108

Also read スイ

20 kanji share this on'yomiAll 20

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
衰 decline
vs哀 pathetic
Same parts, arranged differently.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · shuāi

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

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

Pinyin shuāi 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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