字 Kanji Decipher

Meaning & readings

failure, defeat, reversal

On’yomi ハイ
Kun’yomi やぶ.れる

Origin

The character 敗 combines two components to express the idea of defeat. On the left, the shell-shaped component 貝 provides a sound hint for the pronunciation. On the right, the 攵 component (a small form of the radical for "strike" or "action") indicates this character relates to active harm or destruction. Together, these parts create a character that means to be beaten down or ruined through struggle — the action component showing the force of defeat, while the sound component helps anchor the pronunciation.

敗 11 strokes

Components

  • 貝 sound hint left
  • 攵 radical right

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

Common words

  • 一敗 いっぱい one defeat
  • 完敗 かんぱい (suffering a) complete defeat; utter defeat
  • 失敗 しっぱい failure; mistake
  • 勝敗 しょうはい victory or defeat; outcome (of a game, battle, etc.)
  • 惜敗 せきはい regrettable defeat; defeat by a narrow margin
  • 敗因 はいいん cause of defeat
  • 敗者 はいしゃ loser; defeated person
  • 敗戦 はいせん defeat; lost battle

Related kanji

Same sound component 貝
Same radical

Reference

Strokes
11
Kangxi radical
66
Formation type
Phono-semantic (meaning + sound hint)
Grade
Grade 4 (Kyōiku)
Frequency rank
#516 (newspapers)
Former JLPT
level 2
Unicode
U+06557