Onyomi: ハン, ボン · Kunyomi: おか.す · Meanings: crime, offense, sin
Kanji for crime, offense, sin
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The kanji 犯 is made from the 犬 radical (which originally showed a dog or beast) and the character for “cliff” or “boundary” (厂/⺈). In ancient times, dogs were often used as symbols of instinct, wild behavior, or crossing into forbidden territory. The scribes imagined a wild animal sneaking past a boundary or trespassing into a protected area. This image of a creature breaking into a place it shouldn’t be—violating a boundary—became the base meaning of 犯. Over the centuries, the idea shifted from an animal crossing a line to a person crossing social or moral boundaries, forming the meaning “to commit a crime” or “offender.”
犯 shows a beast (犬) crossing into a restricted boundary (⺈), symbolizing the act of breaking rules or committing an offense.
Picture a wild dog (犬) sneaking past a boundary line (⺈). When you cross a line you shouldn’t, you “commit” an offense—just like 犯.
| Word | Reading | Meaning | Meta |
|---|---|---|---|
| 犯 | はん | perpetrators of (some) crime, (some type of) crime | Suffix |
| 犯罪 | はんざい | crime, offence, offense | common JLPT-N3 Noun |
| 犯人 | はんにん | offender, criminal, culprit | common JLPT-N3 Noun |
| 犯す | おかす | to commit (e.g. crime), to perpetrate, to make (e.g. mistake) | common JLPT-N1 Godan verb with 'su' ending, Transitive verb |
| 犯行 | はんこう | crime, criminal act, offence, offense | common Noun |
| 犯罪者 | はんざいしゃ | criminal, culprit | common Noun |
| 犯罪率 | はんざいりつ | crime rate | Noun |
| 犯罪行為 | はんざいこうい | criminal act | Noun |
| 犯行現場 | はんこうげんば | scene of the crime (offense, offence) | Noun |
| 犯罪捜査 | はんざいそうさ | criminal investigation | Noun |