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憎む (にくむ) Japanese meaning | Kotomora

憎にくむ

に

く

む

Common wordJLPTN3Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

1

godan verb (-mu), transitive verb

Strong, deep-seated hatred or loathing, often directed at a person, action, or situation. More intense and emotional than 嫌う.

彼かれは不ふ正せいを心こころから憎にくんでいる。
He detests injustice from the bottom of his heart.
戦せん争そうを憎にくむ気き持も

ち

は

誰だれ

に

で

も

ある

。

Everyone has feelings of hatred toward war.

Written forms

憎にくむUsage93%
Standard kanji spelling; the most common written form.
悪にくむUsage4%
rarely-used kanji form
Rarely used kanji form; learners should recognize it but use 憎む instead.
にくむUsage4%

Kanji

憎hate, detest
悪bad, vice, rascal

Similar words

嫌きらう
嫌う is a more general 'dislike' or 'avoid,' while 憎む implies a stronger, more emotional hatred or loathing.
憎にくい
憎い is the adjective form meaning 'hateful' or 'detestable,' describing the object of hatred rather than the act of hating.

Etymology

Derived from the adjective 憎し (nikushi) in classical Japanese, which meant 'hateful.' The verb form 憎む developed from this root. The kanji 憎 is a phono-semantic compound with 忄 (heart/feelings) and 曾 (layered), suggesting accumulated negative feelings.