What is the Kanji for "Ruin" and "Destroy"?

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

The Japanese Kanji for "Ruin" and "Destroy" is "滅".

This kanji has 2 readings:

Its kunyomi reading is "Horo".

Its onyomi reading is "Metsu".

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 "氵" means "Water" . And The component "烕" .

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

What does the kanji "滅" mean in japanese?

"滅" means "Ruin" and "Destroy".

Japanese School Students learn this kanji in Junior Highschool, while foreigners may learn this kanji in preparation for the JLPT N1 exam.

Here are some words that use this kanji:

消滅: "Extinction". The noun '消滅 (しょうめつ)' means 'extinction'. It refers to the complete disappearance or ending of something, such as the extinction of a species or the extinction of a language. It can also be used to describe the fading or vanishing of something abstract, like the extinction of a way of life. For example: The extinction of the dinosaurs - (恐竜の消滅). The extinction of a culture - (文化の消滅).

滅多: "Rarely". The Japanese adjectival noun '滅多 (めった)' means 'rarely'. This term is used to convey a sense of something occurring infrequently or only under extraordinary circumstances. It can be used to describe an action, event, or occurrence that is not very common. For example: I rarely go to the beach - (私は滅多に海に行きません). This happens rarely - (これは滅多にないことです).

滅びる: "Perish". The Japanese verb '滅びる (ほろびる)' means 'to perish'. This verb describes the state of something ending or being destroyed. It can refer to the destruction of a civilization, the extinction of a species, or the downfall of an individual. For example: The ancient city perished in the war - (その古代都市は戦争で滅びた). The company perished due to mismanagement - (その企業は経営不振で滅んでしまった).

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 "め" is read as "me". The hiragana "つ" is read as "tsu". The hiragana "ほ" is read as "ho". And The hiragana "ろ" is read as "ro".

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.