Meaning & readings

lazy, laziness

On’yomi ダ

Origin

This character combines a heart radical on the left (representing emotion or inner state) with a sound component on the right that hints at the pronunciation "da." The heart radical signals that this kanji deals with a mental or emotional quality, while the sound component provides a clue to how the character is pronounced in Japanese. Together, they form a character meaning laziness or the lazy state of mind—a lack of motivation or drive that originates from within.

惰 12 strokes

Components

  • 忄 radical left
  • 左+月 sound hint right

A sound hint component points at the character’s pronunciation, not its meaning — don’t read a meaning into it.

Common words

  • 惰性 だせい force of habit
  • 怠惰 たいだ lazy; idle

Reference

Strokes
12
Kangxi radical
61
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Jōyō (secondary school)
Frequency rank
#2336 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 1
Unicode
U+060F0