穢
dirty
Readings
On'yomi
- アイ
- エ
- ワイ
Kun'yomi
- けが.す
- けが.れ
- けが.れる
Meaning
穢 centers on impurity and filth in a broad sense: something physically dirty, morally defiled, or spiritually unclean.
Most common words using 穢
- 穢多えた
eta; group comprising the lowest rank of Japan's Edo-period caste system and whose work usually involved handling human bodies or animal carcasses
- 穢土えど
this impure world (as opposed to the pure land)
- 厭離穢土えんりえど
abhorrence of (living in) this impure world
- 汚穢おわい
night soil
- 汚穢屋おわいや
person who gathers night soil
- 穢れのないけがれのない
pure; clean; untouched; innocent
- 穢身えしん
defiled body; unenlightened person's body
- 触穢しょくえ
uncleanliness from contact with death, pregnancy, menstruation, etc.
- 醜穢しゅうわい
ugly and filthy
- 雑穢ぞうえ
various impurities (illness, menstruation, death, etc.)
Study
Etymology
穢 combines 禾 (grain) with 歲, which likely contributes the sound and carries a sense of overgrowth or impurity. The exact historical development is uncertain, but the character is associated with dirtiness or defilement.
Meaning mnemonic
Grain 禾 beside the complex 歲 suggests crops overgrown with weeds or spoiled by age, making them dirty and impure.
Reading mnemonic
For アイ, imagine an eye (アイ) that sees only dirt and impurity everywhere: the eye -> アイ, and the dirty grain 穢 is all it can focus on.