pain and itching
Literal physical sensation of pain and itchiness.
I feel pain and itching from the insect bite.
mental anguish; unhealthy emotions
Figurative use for emotional distress or troubled feelings. Often appears in the negative expression 痛痒を感じない (to be unaffected, to feel no compunction).
He seems to feel no mental anguish even when criticized.
A small loss is nothing to the company.
Standard kanji form.
Rarely used kanji form; 癢 is a non-jōyō variant of 痒.
Compound of 痛 (pain) and 痒 (itch). The figurative sense likely developed from the idea that mental distress is like a persistent, irritating pain.