伐 means “cut down, strike”

ばつ · batsu

Also: fell, attack, punish

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

きる, そむく, うつ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

バツ, ハツ, カ, ボチ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 6 strokes

The story

A person (亻) with a halberd (戈) at the neck: the oldest forms show just that, a blow. 伐 is cutting down: 伐採 is felling trees, 討伐 is crushing rebels, and 殺伐 describes a mood that is bleak and brutal.

Used in 伐採 (bassai, felling/logging), 討伐 (toubatsu, subjugation), and 殺伐 (satsubatsu, bleak/savage)

More from Attack & Conquer

• 撃 strike
• 討 attack
• 攻 attack
• 狙 aim at
• 闘 fight
• 衝 collide
• 奪 snatch
• 挑 challenge
• 侵 invade
• 襲 attack
• 敵 enemy
• 征 conquer

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

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