堕 means “fall, degenerate”

だ · da

Also: descend to, lapse into

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

おちる, くずす, くずれる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ダ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 12 strokes

The story

A hill (阝) and 有, all you have, sliding down to the earth (土): picture everything tumbling downhill into the dirt. 堕落 is moral decay, 自堕落 is a sloppy, slovenly life, and 堕天使 is a fallen angel.

Used in 堕落 (daraku, depravity/corruption), 自堕落 (jidaraku, slovenly), and 堕天使 (datenshi, fallen angel)

More from Vice & Folly

• 恣 arbitrary
• 惰 idle
• 淫 lewd
• 傲 arrogant
• 慢 conceit
• 狂 go mad
• 愚 foolish
• 俗 worldly
• 邪 wicked
• 劣 inferior
• 痴 foolish
• 怠 lazy

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