嫌 means “hate, dislike”

きらい · kirai

Also: detest

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

きらう, きらい, いや

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ケン, ゲン

Taught in secondary school · 13 strokes

The story

The mouth expresses disgust: hatred can poison the heart like a bitter taste on the tongue.

Used in 嫌い (kirai, dislike) and ～が嫌いです (I dislike ~)

Its parts

• 女 Woman · Left side
• 兼 Double/combine · Right side

A woman (女) with doubled feelings (兼): dislike, reluctance

Kanji that look like 嫌

• 兼 (combine): 嫌 adds the 女 radical: dislike has the woman radical

More from People & Life

• 喜 joy
• 人 person
• 心 heart
• 愛 love
• 友 friend
• 生 life
• 男 man
• 女 woman
• 子 child
• 夢 dream
• 和 peace
• 母 mother

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

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