凄 means “tremendous, eerie”

すごい · sugoi

Also: uncanny, weird, threatening, horrible

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

さむい, すごい, すさまじい

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

セイ, サイ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 10 strokes

The story

Ice (冫) creeping in beside 妻: picture a sudden chill that raises goosebumps. 凄 is the eerie and the overwhelming: 凄惨 is gruesome, 凄まじい ferocious, and 凄い, usually written すごい, once meant chilling before it meant amazing.

Used in 凄い (sugoi, amazing/terrible), 凄まじい (susamajii, tremendous/fierce), and 凄惨 (seisan, gruesome)

More from Fear & Shame

• 畏 awe
• 慄 shudder
• 臆 timid
• 虞 risk
• 羞 shame
• 焦 fret
• 脅 threaten
• 辱 disgrace
• 慌 panic
• 惧 dread
• 嚇 menace

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

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