音読み: ジャク・セキ
訓読み: さび・さびしい・さび
画数: 11
部首: 宀（うかんむり）
Meaning
Lonely / Desolate / Quiet / Lonesome.
- 寂しい — lonely; desolate
- 寂れる — to decline; to become deserted
- 寂声 — lonely voice
- 寂静 — serene silence (Buddhist term)
- 静寂 — stillness; tranquility
- 侘び寂び — the Japanese aesthetic of refined simplicity and transience
寂 combines the “roof” radical with the sound element 叔. It evokes the image of a quiet house, conveying senses of loneliness, stillness, or desolation.
Think in terms of 侘び寂び, a uniquely Japanese aesthetic. 侘び is humble, imperfect simplicity, while 寂び is quiet, time-worn calm. Together they express beauty found in transience and imperfection — not sadness, but a refined stillness that values depth over surface.
Forms
静寂 — stillness; tranquility