惨

音読おんよみ: サン・ザン

訓読くんよみ: みじめ・いた-む・いた-ましい

画数かくすう: 11

部首ぶしゅ: 忄（りっしんべん）

Meaning

Wretched / Miserable / Pitiful / Tragic

  • 悲惨ひさん — tragic; miserable
  • 惨劇ざんげき — tragedy (disastrous event)
  • 惨敗ざんぱい — crushing defeat
  • 無惨むざん — cruel; atrocious; horrific
  • 惨状さんじょう — tragic state; miserable condition

惨 is built from the heart radical 忄 plus the phonetic 參 (さん). Picture a heart under strain from “three prongs” — feelings torn in several directions — and you get the sense of wretched, pitiful, tragic. The sound of 參 (サン) also gives the on-yomi.

参

Think: heart (忄) + 参 (to come/participate; three-pronged). When too many things “jab” the heart at once, the feeling turns 惨 — miserable or tragic. Use 参 → 惨 as a hook: same sound “サン”, but with a heart, it hurts.

悲
Pairs

悲惨ひさん — tragic; miserable; heartbreaking

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