憂
憂 — Melancholy
melancholy, grieve, lament, be anxious, sad, unhappy
On’yomiユウ (yuu)
Kun’yomiうれえる (ureeru)
Kun’yomiうれい (urei)
Kun’yomiうい (ui)
Kun’yomiうき (uki)
Stroke order (15 strokes)
Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).
Common words using 憂
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 憂慮 | ゆうりょ yuuryo | anxiety; concern; fear |
| 憂える | うれえる ureeru | to worry about; to be anxious about; to be concerned about |
| 憂鬱 | ゆううつ yuuutsu | depression; melancholy; dejection |
| 一喜一憂 | いっきいちゆう ikkiichiyuu | alternating between happiness and anxiety; swinging between joy and sorrow; being glad and sad by turns |
| 憂き目 | うきめ ukime | bitter experience; misery; distress |
| 杞憂 | きゆう kiyuu | needless fear; groundless apprehension; unfounded worry |
Study notes
憂 is a JLPT N1 kanji written with 15 strokes. It is taught at secondary-school level in Japan. Ranked #1625 of the 2,500 most frequent kanji in newspapers. On’yomi (音読み) are Chinese-derived readings mostly used in compound words; kun’yomi (訓読み) are native Japanese readings, with any highlighted part written in hiragana after the kanji (okurigana).
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