Kanji 厄: unlucky, misfortune, bad luck, disaster

Key takeaways

Kanji 厄: unlucky, misfortune, bad luck, disaster. Readings and core meaning.

See vocabulary and examples below.

Kanji at a glance

厄

Meaning

unluckymisfortunebad luckdisaster

On reading

やく

Radical

厂

Core meaning / core image

Core meaning: 厄

unlucky, misfortune, bad luck, disaster

Kanji structure breakdown

厄

Structure breakdown

厂 + 卩

Mnemonic story

A person (卩) is kneeling or trapped under a cliff (厂). This represents a dangerous and unlucky situation, like being pushed to the edge, signifying misfortune or disaster.

On'yomi and kun'yomi

Example sentences

Example 1

この問題はちょっとやっかいだ。

Translation

This problem is a bit troublesome.

Example 2

彼の頼みはいつもやっかいだ。