厄 means “misfortune, bad luck, trouble”

やく · yaku

Also: unlucky, disaster

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ヤク

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 4 strokes

The story

A person crouching, a curled form of 卩, under a cliff (厂): picture rocks about to fall. 厄 is misfortune: in a 厄年, traditionally 42 for men and 33 for women, people go to a shrine for 厄払い, and anything troublesome is 厄介.

Used in 厄介 (yakkai, troublesome), 厄年 (yakudoshi, unlucky age), and 厄除け (yakuyoke, warding off bad luck)

More from Rites & Omens

• 詣 visit a shrine
• 吉 good luck
• 儀 ceremony
• 典 classic
• 賀 congratulations
• 斎 purification
• 犠 sacrifice
• 寿 long life
• 祥 good omen
• 牲 sacrifice
• 縁 bond
• 慶 celebration

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

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