惡

Core senses range from moral wickedness (evil, malignant) to sensory repulsion (foul) and general poor quality (bad, wretched).

The glyph functions as either an adjective (descriptive of quality or morality) or as a transitive verb meaning "to hate," "to loathe," or "to dislike."

When determining the specific sense of "bad," look for contrastive pairings:

• 惡 vs. 善 (shàn): typically denotes moral wickedness/evil.
• 惡 vs. 良 (liáng): typically refers to poor quality, utility, or condition.

Simplified variant: U+6076.

There is significant semantic overlap between the adjective and verb forms; the act of loathing often stems from perceiving something as foul or evil. In early texts, the boundary between these states can be porous.