闇 means “darkness, shady”

やみ · yami

Also: get dark, gloom, disorder

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

やみ, くらい

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

アン, オン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 17 strokes

The story

A sound (音) inside a gate (門): picture standing at the gate at night, where you can hear but not see. 闇 is darkness, and anything shady: 暗闇 is pitch dark, 闇市 the black markets of postwar Japan, and 闇金 a loan shark.

Used in 暗闇 (kurayami, darkness), 闇 (yami, darkness/the shadows), and 闇市 (yamiichi, black market)

More from Light & Shadow

• 宵 evening
• 旦 dawn
• 昭 bright
• 宙 midair
• 透 transparent
• 輝 shine
• 雰 atmosphere
• 暖 warm
• 陰 shade
• 暁 daybreak

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

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