壊 means “break, destroy”

こわす · kowasu

Also: demolition

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

こわす, こわれる, やぶる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

カイ, エ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 16 strokes

The story

Earth (土) beside a robe (衣) ripped open around 罒 in the middle: picture a wall cracking like torn cloth. 壊す is to break, 壊れる is what a phone or a washing machine does when it stops working, and 破壊 is destruction.

Used in 壊す (kowasu, to break), 壊れる (kowareru, to break down), and 破壊 (hakai, destruction)

More from Crumble & Ruin

• 崩 crumble
• 削 shave
• 裂 tear
• 陥 fall into
• 滅 perish
• 腐 rot
• 砕 smash
• 朽 decay
• 毀 damage
• 潰 crush
• 綻 come apart

Learn 壊 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

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