失

Extended meanings: to miss, to let slip, to be negligent, to err (make a mistake).

First appears in bronze inscriptions (金文 jinwen).

Depicts a hand (手) with an extra stroke – showing something slipping from the hand or being dropped.

In clerical script (隸書 lìshū), the top part resembled 夫 (husband 부), but later evolved in regular script (楷書 kǎishū) into the current form 失.

It carries a strongly negative nuance (e.g., losing possessions, making mistakes, missing chances).

Appears in many negative compound words such as:

失敗 (실패) – failure;

失望 (실망) – disappointment;

失業 (실업) – unemployment;

過失 (과실) – fault, negligence.