Kanji Kaisen

漢字Kanji · in Action & Movement

逆: inverted, reverse

Also: opposite, wicked

JLPT N29 strokesGrade 5Your ink: 白 Not met

⻌ carries the meaning · 屰 gives the sound

9 strokes
  • Small seal · Qin
  • Today

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

Four readings, and the words that use each

ギャクgyaku · on'yomi · in compounds

  • 逆ぎゃくopposite [n.]
  • 逆説ぎゃくせつparadox
  • 逆流ぎゃくりゅうcounter-current
  • 逆境ぎゃっきょうadversity
  • 逆効果ぎゃくこうかopposite effect
  • 逆転するぎゃくてんするreverse [v.i.]
  • 反逆するはんぎゃくするrebel [v.i.]

さかsaka · kun'yomi · on its own

  • 逆立ちさかだちhandstand

さかさsakasa · kun'yomi

  • 逆さまさかさまupside down

さからうsakarau · kun'yomi

  • 逆らうさからうgo against, disobey

Also read ゲキ, with no example words in our sources. Words: Kanji alive, CC BY 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

“This swooping radical is the winding road you walk upon! It curves under the rest of the kanji like a path being carved through a landscape.”
More in the 辶 road story
繋がり
Ink shades, lightest to darkest: 白 Not met, 淡 Met, 中 Learning, 濃 Familiar, 印 Mastered
屰

Also built on 屰

⻌

Also built on road (⻌)

All 54

Also read ギャク

1 kanji shares this on'yomi

Also read ゲキ

4 kanji share this on'yomi

Easy to confuse

The difference, side by side
逆 inverted · ⻌
vs朔 conjunction (astronomy) · 月
逆 has ⻌ where 朔 has 月.
In ChineseSame character in simplified and traditional · nì

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

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

Pinyin nì 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.