惡

惡 (Kangxi radical 61, 心+8, 12 strokes, cangjie input 一一心 (MMP), four-corner 1033₁, composition ⿱亞心)

• 𛀅

• KangXi: page 391, character 25
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 10824
• Dae Jaweon: page 724, character 7
• Hanyu Da Zidian (first edition): volume 4, page 2307, character 12
• Unihan data for U+60E1
• Unihan data for U+F9B9

Historical forms of the character 惡
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)	Liushutong (compiled in Ming)
Small seal script	Transcribed ancient scripts

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *qaː, *qaːɡs, *qaːɡ) : phonetic 亞 (OC *qraːɡs) + semantic 心 (“heart”).

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *ʔak (“bad”); cognate with Tibetan ཨག་པོ (ag po, “bad”) (Coblin, 1986; Schuessler, 2007). Also related to Thai ยาก (yâak, “difficult”) (Schuessler, 2007).

惡

1. evil; wicked; foul

   惡毒／恶毒  ―  èdú  ―  malicious

   他經常作惡，這回終於犯事了。 [MSC, trad.]
   他经常作恶，这回终于犯事了。 [MSC, simp.]

   Tā jīngcháng zuò'è, zhè huí zhōngyú fànshì le. [Pinyin]

   He often does bad things and has finally been caught.

   Antonym: 善 (shàn)

2. fierce; hostile; ferocious

   惡戰／恶战  ―  èzhàn  ―  to fight fiercely

   內有惡犬／内有恶犬  ―  nèi yǒu è quǎn  ―  there is a fierce dog inside

   佢心情唔好就好惡㗎喇。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   佢心情唔好就好恶㗎喇。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   keoi⁵ sam¹ cing⁴ m⁴ hou² zau⁶ hou² ok³ gaa³ laa³. [Jyutping]

   When he's upset, he gets really hostile.

3. bad; poor

   惡習／恶习  ―  èxí  ―  bad habits

   惡化／恶化  ―  èhuà  ―  to deteriorate

   • 士志於道，而恥惡衣惡食者，未足與議也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     士志于道，而耻恶衣恶食者，未足与议也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Shì zhì yú dào, ér chǐ è yī è shí zhě, wèi zú yǔ yì yě. [Pinyin]

     A scholar, whose mind is set on truth, and who is ashamed of bad clothes and bad food, is not fit to be discoursed with.

4. (Cantonese, Min Nan) difficult

   呢單嘢好惡搞。 [Cantonese, trad.]
   呢单嘢好恶搞。 [Cantonese, simp.]

   ni¹ daan¹ je⁵ hou² ok³ gaau². [Jyutping]

   This is really hard to deal with.

5. (Taiwanese Hokkien) slow

僫 is more common for the Hokkien word when pronounced oh.

Exoactive of etymology 1 (Schuessler, 2007).

惡

1. to hate; to loathe; to dislike

   厭惡／厌恶  ―  yànwù  ―  to loathe

   • 死亦我所惡，所惡有甚於死者，故患有所不辟也。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     死亦我所恶，所恶有甚于死者，故患有所不辟也。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Mencius, c. 4^th century BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Sǐ yì wǒ suǒ wù, suǒ wù yǒu shèn yú sǐ zhě, gù huàn yǒu suǒ bù bì yě. [Pinyin]

     I dislike death indeed, but there is that which I dislike more than death, and therefore there are occasions when I will not avoid danger.

   • 好賢如《緇衣》，惡惡如《巷伯》。 [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     好贤如《缁衣》，恶恶如《巷伯》。 [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Book of Rites, c. 4^th – 2^nd century BCE

     Hào xián rú “Zī Yī”, wù è rú “Xiàng Bó”. [Pinyin]

     Love the good (persons) like how the poet of Black Robes loves her lover, and loathe the wicked like the poet who wrote Xiang Bo.

   • 又有可怪者。上帝惡世人罪惡，破天淵之水，以盡滅之，又俯念以色列盡戮埃及長子。此時其「不忍仁愛之性」未知何處去。 [Korean Literary Sinitic, trad.]

     From: 1961, ​Kim Yeong'ik (金永益), 《西敎辨》

     U yu ga goe ja. Sangje o sein joeak, pa cheon yeon ji su, i jin myeol ji, u bunyeom Isaengnyeol jin ryuk Aegup jangja. Chasi gi "burin inae ji seong" miji hacheo geo. [Sino-Korean]

     There is another strange thing. God hating the sins of the people of the world, he broke open the waters of the heavenly vaults and annihilated them all thereby; and looking down upon Israel, he massacred all of Egypt's eldest sons. I do not know where this "kindhearted nature which cannot bear [to punish]" was to be found at those times.

Cognate with 安 (OC *qaːn, “where; how”), 焉 (OC *qan, “where; how”).

惡

1. ^† An interrogative pronoun: how

   • 君子去仁，惡乎成名？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     君子去仁，恶乎成名？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Analects of Confucius, c. 475 – 221 BCE, translated based on James Legge's version

     Jūnzǐ qù rén, wū hū chéngmíng? [Pinyin]

     If a superior man abandon virtue, how can he fulfil the requirements of that name?

   • 自我觀之，仁義之端，是非之塗，樊然殽亂，吾惡能知其辯？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     自我观之，仁义之端，是非之涂，樊然淆乱，吾恶能知其辩？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: Zhuangzi, circa 3^rd – 2^nd centuries BCE

     Zì wǒ guān zhī, rényì zhī duān, shìfēi zhī tú, fánrán yáoluàn, wú wū néng zhī qí biàn? [Pinyin]

     As I look at the matter, the first principles of benevolence and righteousness and the paths of approval and disapproval are inextricably mixed and confused together - how is it possible that I should know how to discriminate among them?

   • 先生飲一斗而醉，惡能飲一石哉？ [Classical Chinese, trad.]
     先生饮一斗而醉，恶能饮一石哉？ [Classical Chinese, simp.]

     From: The Records of the Grand Historian, by Sima Qian, c. 91 BCE

     Xiānshēng yǐn yī dǒu ér zuì, wū néng yǐn yī dàn zāi? [Pinyin]

     You, sir, become drunk after drinking just one dou; how can you drink one dan?

2. ^† Interjection used to express surprise: oh; ah

• 烏／乌 (wū)

Probably related to etymologies 1 and 2 (Zhengzhang, 2011b; Xiang, 2019). Alternatively, 涴 (MC ʔuɑH, “to soil; to stain”) has been proposed to be the etymon (Cao, 2008).

惡

1. (Wu) excrement

• “惡”, in 漢語多功能字庫 (Multi-function Chinese Character Database)‎, 香港中文大學 (the Chinese University of Hong Kong), 2014–
• Dictionary of Chinese Character Variants (教育部異體字字典), A01382

(“Jinmeiyō” kanji used for names, kyūjitai kanji, shinjitai form 悪)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

• Go-on: あく (aku); う (u)
• Kan-on: あく (aku); お (o)
• Kun: わるい (warui, 惡い)

From Middle Chinese 惡 (MC ʔɑk̚).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [a̠k̚]
• Phonetic hangul: [악]

Wikisource 惡 (eumhun 악할 악 (akhal ak))

1. Hanja form^? of 악 (“evil; wickedness”). [noun]

From Middle Chinese 惡 (MC ʔuoH).

• (SK Standard/Seoul) IPA^(key): [o̞]
• Phonetic hangul: [오]

惡 (eumhun 미워할 오 (miwohal o))

1. Hanja form^? of 오 (“to hate”). [affix]

• 국제퇴계학회 대구경북지부 (國際退溪學會 大邱慶北支部) (2007). Digital Hanja Dictionary, 전자사전／電子字典.

惡 (ác)

1. Nôm form of ác (“much, evil”).

惡: Hán Nôm readings: ác, ố

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.