蛮 means “barbarian, savage”

ばん · ban

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

えびす

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

バン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 12 strokes

The story

An insect or snake (虫) under 亦: the oldest Chinese dictionary calls the southern 蛮 a snake race, a slur that became the word for barbarian. 野蛮 means savage, and 南蛮 was Japan's word for the first Portuguese and Spanish visitors, still alive in チキン南蛮.

Used in 野蛮 (yaban, savage/barbaric), 南蛮 (nanban, southern barbarians/Europeans), and 蛮行 (bankou, act of brutality)

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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.