痴 means “foolish, obsessed”

ち · chi

Also: stupid

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

しれる, おろか

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

チ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 13 strokes

The story

Sickness (疒) over knowing (知): knowledge itself gone sick. 痴 is foolishness and blind obsession: 愚痴 is grumbling, 音痴 is tone-deaf, 方向音痴 hopeless with directions, and 痴漢 is a train groper, the reason for women-only cars.

Used in 愚痴 (guchi, grumbling), 音痴 (onchi, tone-deaf), and 痴漢 (chikan, groper)

More from Vice & Folly

• 怠 lazy
• 弊 harm
• 癖 habit
• 卑 lowly
• 堕 fall
• 恣 arbitrary
• 惰 idle
• 淫 lewd
• 傲 arrogant
• 慢 conceit
• 狂 go mad
• 愚 foolish

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

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