醜 means “ugly, disgraceful”

みにくい · minikui

Also: unclean, shame, bad looking

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

みにくい, しこ

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

シュウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 17 strokes

The story

A demon (鬼) beside a wine jar (酉): picture a goblin drunk and sprawling. 醜い is ugly, as in 醜いアヒルの子, The Ugly Duckling, and 醜態 is a disgraceful scene, the kind a politician makes on camera.

Used in 醜い (minikui, ugly), 醜態 (shuutai, disgraceful behavior), and 醜聞 (shuubun, scandal)

More from Grace & Beauty

• 艶 luster
• 貌 appearance
• 態 attitude
• 姿 figure
• 華 splendor
• 妙 exquisite
• 柄 pattern
• 趣 taste
• 雅 elegance
• 飾 decorate
• 魅 charm
• 粧 makeup

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

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