悪 means “bad”

わるい · warui

Also: vice, rascal, false

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

わるい, わる-, あし, にくい, ああ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

アク, オ

JLPT N4 · Taught in grade 3 · 11 strokes

The story

A cramped, crooked tomb chamber (亜) pressing on the heart (心): wrongness felt in the chest. From a casual 悪い "my bad" to the 悪役 villain of every drama, evil in Japanese starts as a feeling.

Used in 悪い (warui, bad), 気分が悪い (kibun ga warui, feeling unwell), and 最悪 (saiaku, the worst)

More from Healing & Spirit

• 薬 medicine
• 弱 weak
• 気 spirit
• 元 origin
• 死 death
• 病 illness
• 医 doctor

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

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