# 凶 — ill-fated; villain

凶 means “ill-fated; villain”. It is a JLPT N1 kanji written with 4 strokes. On'yomi: キョウ (kyou). It has no common kun'yomi. You'll see it in words such as 凶 (kyou, “bad luck; ill fortune”).

- Meaning: ill-fated; villain
- On'yomi: キョウ (kyou)
- Kun'yomi: —
- Strokes: 4
- Level: JLPT N1 · set Qualities 6

## How to remember 凶

Parts: 乂 crossed arms · 凵 open box

## Words with 凶

| Word | Reading | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 凶 | きょう (kyou) | bad luck; ill fortune |

## Don't confuse it with

[区](https://moji.ninja/n4-kanji/ward/) · [丈](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/length/)

## More in the “Qualities 6” set

[痴](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/silly/) · [凶](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/ill-fated/) · [粗](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/coarse/) · [寧](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/courteous/) · [凡](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/commonplace/) · [弊](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/bad-habit/) · [窮](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/destitute/) · [麗](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/lovely/) · [臭](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/stinking/)

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From Moji Ninja (https://moji.ninja/), a free app for learning hiragana, katakana and the JLPT kanji from N5 to N1 with spaced repetition. Page: https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/ill-fated/. Last updated 2026-11-01.