滅 means “perish, destroy”

ほろびる · horobiru

Also: ruin, overthrow

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

ほろびる, ほろぶ, ほろぼす

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

メツ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 13 strokes

The story

Water (氵) poured on a fire (火) caught inside a halberd (戈): flames put out for good. 滅びる is to perish, 絶滅 is extinction, 点滅 is a light blinking on and off, and 滅多に means hardly ever.

Used in 滅びる (horobiru, to perish), 絶滅 (zetsumetsu, extinction), and 滅多に (mettani, rarely)

More from Crumble & Ruin

• 腐 rot
• 砕 smash
• 朽 decay
• 毀 damage
• 潰 crush
• 綻 come apart
• 壊 break
• 崩 crumble
• 削 shave
• 裂 tear
• 陥 fall into

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

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