What is the Kanji for "Poison"?

If you are wondering what is the Japanese Kanji for "Poison", you've come to the right place!

The Japanese Kanji for "Poison" is "毒".

This kanji has 1 reading:

Its onyomi reading is "Doku".

kunyomi readings are based on the pronunciation of native Japanese words, and onyomi readings are based on the Chinese pronunciation of the character.

If you visually breakdown this kanji, you can see is made up of 2 parts:

The radical "龶" means "Life" . And The component "毋" .

Now, let's make sure you understand this kanji the other way around too.

What does the kanji "毒" mean in japanese?

"毒" means "Poison".

Japanese School Students learn this kanji in Fourth Grade, while foreigners may learn this kanji in preparation for the JLPT N2 exam.

Here are some words that use this kanji:

消毒: "Disinfect". The Japanese verbal noun '消毒 (しょうどく)' means 'to disinfect' or 'to sterilize'. This term is used to describe the process of cleaning and removing harmful bacteria, viruses, or other microorganisms from a surface or area. It is commonly used in medical and sanitary contexts, such as cleaning hospital equipment or disinfecting hands. For example: We disinfected the hospital room - (病室を消毒した). Disinfect the table - (テーブルを消毒する).

毒: "Poison". The Japanese noun '毒 (どく)' refers to a poisonous substance that can be harmful or even deadly when ingested or exposed to. It is often associated with substances extracted from plants, animals, or chemicals that can cause injury or death if encountered. For example: Drinking the poison caused him to collapse - (その毒を飲んで彼は倒れた). That plant is known to be poisonous - (その植物は有毒として知られている).

気の毒: "Pitiful". The Japanese adjectival noun '気の毒 (きのどく)' means 'pitiful'. It is used to express sympathy or compassion for someone who is in a difficult or unfortunate situation. For example: I feel bad for the poor boy, his situation is so pitiful - (その貧しい少年は本当に気の毒だ。彼の状況はひどい). The expression is often used to show empathy towards those who are suffering or facing hardship.

中毒: "Addiction". The verbal noun '中毒 (ちゅうどく)' means 'addiction'. This term refers to a strong and uncontrollable compulsion or dependence on a particular substance or activity. It is often associated with the inability to stop consuming or engaging in that substance/activity, despite negative consequences. Example sentences: He has an addiction to alcohol - (彼はアルコールに中毒している). Drug addiction is a serious problem - (薬物中毒は深刻な問題です).

有毒: "Toxic". The Japanese adjectival noun '有毒 (ゆうどく)' means 'toxic'. This term is used to describe something that is poisonous or harmful to living organisms. It can be applied to substances, chemicals, or even environments that contain dangerous or harmful elements. For example: The waste from the factory is toxic - (工場の廃棄物は有毒だ). Toxic gas leak - (有毒ガスの漏れ)

To make really sure you learn this Kanji, I've prepared an interactive lesson for you. You are going to learn the readings and meanings of this kanji.

But first, you need to know a little bit about Hiragana and Katakana.

Hiragana and katakana are japanese syllabaries, this means that each character represents a syllable.

This are the characters you need to know for this lesson:

The hiragana "ど" is read as "do". And The hiragana "く" is read as "ku".

Heres a quick tutorial on how to use it. You'll be asked three type of questions: meaning, reading, and writing.

For meanings questions all you have to do is type the english meaning. If there is more than one meaning, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Reading questions you have to type the reading in romaji (roman letters, our normal alphabet) and it'll be automatically converted to hiragana if necessary. If there is more than one reading, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Writing questions some options will appear and all you have to do is select the correct ones.