腐 means “rot, spoil, corrupt”

くさる · kusaru

Also: decay, sour

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

くさる, くされる, くされ, くさらす, くさす

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

フ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 14 strokes

The story

Meat (肉) left lying in a government storehouse (府): forgotten until it rots. 腐る is to spoil, 腐敗 is decay, of food or of politics, and it is also the 腐 in 豆腐, tofu, where it is said to mean soft and curdled.

Used in 腐る (kusaru, to rot), 腐敗 (fuhai, decay/corruption), and 豆腐 (toufu, tofu)

Words with 腐

• 豆腐 (とうふ, toufu): tofu

More from Crumble & Ruin

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

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

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