pungent, spicy, harsh, cruel
Also: severe
On'yomi (音読み)
- ラツ
Kun'yomi (訓読み)
- から.い
About this kanji
The kanji 藤 (ratsu) primarily means ‘pungent’ or ‘spicy,’ often evoking a sense of harshness or severity. It is commonly used in nouns rather than verbs. You might encounter it in compounds like 悪辣 (akuratsu), which means 'crafty' or 'sly,' and 辛辣 (shinratsu), which describes 'bitter' criticism. Another interesting compound is 辣韮 (rakkyo), referring to a type of Chinese onion often used in cooking. A note to remember is that while ‘pungent’ can describe food flavors, it can also refer to strong emotional or verbal expressions, reflecting a range of intensity.
Example sentences
彼の言葉は非常に辣だ。
His words are very sharp.
Meanings across languages
- English
- pungent, spicy, harsh, cruel, severe
- Tiếng Việt
- cay
- 日本語
- 辣
- 한국어
- 맵다
- 中文
- 辣
- id
- pedas
- th
- เผ็ด
- es
- picante
- fr
- piquant
- de
- scharf
- pt
- apimentado
Common compounds
- 悪辣crafty, vicious, unscrupulous
- 辛辣bitter (e.g. criticism), sharp, biting
- 辣腕shrewdness, sharpness, astuteness
- 辣韮Chinese onion (Allium chinense), Chinese scallion, Kiangsi scallion
- 麻辣mala (spicy and numbing seasoning)
- 山辣韮Japanese onion (Allium thunbergii)
- 辣白菜hot-and-sour cabbage
- 酸辣湯hot and sour soup
Words using this kanji
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