恶 (wù): to hate; to loathe; to detest

Meanings

1 to hate; to loathe; to detest
2 to be ashamed of; to fear
3 to slander (literary)

Characters

恶

wù

to hate; to loathe; to detest

Examples

我厌恶说谎的人。

Wǒ yànwù shuōhuǎng de rén.

I detest people who lie.

他的行为真可恶。

Tā de xíngwéi zhēn kěwù.

His behavior is truly detestable.

每个人都有自己的好恶。

Měigèrén dōu yǒu zìjǐ de hàowù.

Everyone has their own likes and dislikes.

Tips

usage

The wù reading is the verb form 'to hate / loathe': 厌恶 (to loathe), 可恶 (detestable), 憎恶 (to abhor), 好恶 (likes and dislikes — paired with 好 'to love'), and the four-character 深恶痛绝 (to detest bitterly), 好逸恶劳 (to love ease and hate work). For the adjective 'evil', switch to è; for 'nauseous' in 恶心, switch to ě.

Components

radical

心 xīn

heart; mind

Bottom heart radical — the indexing component. Marks 恶 as a mental or moral quality: hatred, evil, vice. Same heart-base anchors 怒 (anger), 思 (think), 忘 (forget), 急 (urgent). The reading è = evil; reading wù = to hate; reading ě = nauseating.

phonetic

亚 yà

second; inferior (here phonetic)

Top 亚 supplies the sound — yà drifted to è with initial loss. 亚 itself depicts a tomb shaft or building foundation, traditionally read as 'second-rank, lesser'. The faint semantic echo of 'lesser' reinforces the 'bad, evil' reading è. Same phonetic in 哑 (mute), 鸦 (crow).