窟 means “cavern, den”

くつ · kutsu

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

いわや, いはや, あな

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

クツ, コツ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 13 strokes

The story

A hole (穴) over 屈, to stoop: picture a cave you can only enter bent double. 窟 is a cavern, the second half of 洞窟, and 巣窟 is a den, the lair where thieves or wild animals hole up.

Used in 洞窟 (doukutsu, cave) and 巣窟 (soukutsu, den/lair)

More from Peaks & Caves

• 塚 mound
• 岳 high mountain
• 丘 hill
• 洞 cave
• 峡 gorge
• 峰 peak
• 峠 mountain pass
• 坑 pit
• 麓 foot of a mountain

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

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