惱
angered, filled with hate
Strokes12
Readings
On'yomi
- ノウ
Kun'yomi
- なや.む
- なや.ます
- なや.ましい
- なやみ
Meaning
惱 centers on a troubled, agitated state of mind: being angered, filled with hate, or deeply distressed. The given meanings all point to intense emotional turmoil.
Study
Etymology
惱 combines 忄 (heart/mind) with a phonetic component that historically represented a tangled or disturbed state. The exact development of the right side is uncertain, but the character consistently expresses mental agitation.
Meaning mnemonic
The heart radical 忄 on the left shows that this is an emotion. The tangled right side looks like a messy knot inside a box, like anger and hate tangled up in the mind.
Reading mnemonic
For ノウ, imagine a person so filled with hate that they can only say 'No!' to everything: 'No!' -> ノウ, and their mind is a knot of anger.