Onyomi: ケツ, ケン · Kunyomi: か.く, か.ける · Meanings: fail, gap, lack, yawning radical (no. 76)
Kanji for fail, gap, lack, yawning radical no 76
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The kanji 欠 originally showed the image of a person with an open mouth, either yawning or gasping. In ancient script, this open-mouth figure expressed the feeling of something missing, incomplete, or needing more — like a yawn showing the body's lack of energy. Over time, this simple picture of an open mouth came to symbolize “lack,” “absence,” or “something missing,” capturing the idea of deficiency in both physical and abstract forms.
欠 depicts an open mouth, symbolizing something missing or lacking — like a yawn showing deficiency.
Picture someone yawning with an open mouth — a sign they’re missing energy. That sense of “something lacking” is 欠.
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 欠伸 | あくび | yawn, yawning | common JLPT-N2 Noun, Suru verb, Intransitive verb |
| 欠 | けつ | lack, deficiency, vacancy | Noun |
| 欠点 | けってん | fault, defect, flaw, weak point, weakness, shortcoming, drawback | common JLPT-N3 Noun |
| 欠席 | けっせき | absence, non-attendance | common JLPT-N3 Noun, Suru verb, Intransitive verb |
| 欠陥 | けっかん | defect, fault, flaw, deformity, deficiency, shortage, gap | common JLPT-N3 Noun |
| 欠ける | かける | to chip, to be chipped, to break (off), to be damaged | common JLPT-N3 Ichidan verb, Intransitive verb |
| 欠く | かく | to chip, to nick, to break, to crack | common JLPT-N1 Godan verb with 'ku' ending, Transitive verb |
| 欠乏 | けつぼう | deficiency, insufficiency, shortage, lack, want, dearth, scarcity | common JLPT-N1 Noun, Suru verb, Intransitive verb |
| 駆け落ち | かけおち | elopement, running away with a lover | Noun, Suru verb, Intransitive verb |
| 欠かす | かかす | to miss (doing), to fail (to do) | common Godan verb with 'su' ending, Transitive verb |