淫 means “lewd, indecent”

いん · in

Also: lewdness, licentiousness

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

ひたす, ほしいまま, みだら, みだれる, みだり

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

イン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 11 strokes

The story

Water (氵) beside a hand (爫) reaching over 壬: picture water creeping past where it belongs. 淫 once meant soaking in excess, too much of anything, and now means lewd: 淫ら is indecent, and 淫行 is a legal word for sexual misconduct.

Used in 淫ら (midara, indecent/lewd) and 淫行 (inkou, indecent conduct)

More from Vice & Folly

• 傲 arrogant
• 慢 conceit
• 狂 go mad
• 愚 foolish
• 俗 worldly
• 邪 wicked
• 劣 inferior
• 痴 foolish
• 怠 lazy
• 弊 harm
• 癖 habit
• 卑 lowly

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

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