陥 means “fall into, cave in”

おちいる · ochiiru

Also: collapse, fall (castle)

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

おちいる, おとしいれる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

カン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 10 strokes

The story

A hill (阝) and a person (ク) dropping into a pit, the 旧 shape that was once 臼: falling into a trap. 陥る is to fall into, a crisis or a slump, 欠陥 is a defect, and 陥落 is the fall of a castle or city.

Used in 陥る (ochiiru, to fall into), 欠陥 (kekkan, defect), and 陥落 (kanraku, fall/surrender)

More from Crumble & Ruin

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

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

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