弊

Originally meaning “to be worn out” or “to fall into disrepair,” later extended to denote moral or institutional corruption — a “malpractice” or “evil custom.”

Phono-semantic compound consisting of:

廾 (받들 공) — semantic component, depicting two hands held together in offering or support.

敝 (해질 폐) — phonetic component, providing the sound bì / pye and meaning “to be worn out, tattered.”

In Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字), Xu Shen defines:

「弊，敝也。从廾敝聲。」

“弊 means worn out or ruined; composed of 廾 (hands) and the sound 敝.”

The radical 廾 here suggests an action involving the hands — offering, holding, or presenting — while 敝 conveys deterioration or weakness, thus producing the combined sense “to exhaust by continual use” or “to wear out through effort.”

弊 (폐) — corruption; abuse; defect

弊端 (폐단) — evil practice; abuse; defect in a system

疲弊 (피폐) — exhaustion; impoverishment

弊害 (폐해) — harm; social evil

貧弊 (빈폐) — poor and destitute

欺弊 (기폐) — deceit and corruption

腐弊 (부폐) — decay; corruption of morals

陋弊 (누폐) — mean or base custom

陳弊 (진폐) — old evil; outdated corruption

As a verb form (now obsolete in Korean), 敝 and 弊 could both mean “to wear out” or “to be ruined,” reflected in modern compounds such as 피폐하다 (“to become exhausted or ruined”).

In early Chinese, 敝 and 弊 were interchangeable in the sense of “to be worn, tattered, or corrupt.” The moral sense of “corruption, malpractice” developed by the Warring States period, when the term 弊政 (“corrupt governance”) began to appear in political writings.

The Kangxi Dictionary (康熙字典) records:

「弊，壞也，損也，病也。」

“弊 means to spoil, to damage, to be sickened.”

In Confucian and Legalist texts, 弊 contrasts with 廉 (honesty) and 清 (purity), forming moral pairs such as 廉弊 (honest vs. corrupt) and 清弊 (pure vs. foul).

The Han Feizi (韓非子·有度篇) remarks:

「上無度則下多弊。」

“When those above lack standards, those below become corrupt.”

The character’s right component 敝 itself portrays a tattered cloth or collapsing roof, emphasizing deterioration; the left component 廾 (hands) suggests human involvement or maintenance — together symbolizing what is handled so long it becomes worn and harmful.

Thus, 弊 expresses both physical decay and ethical decline — from the wearing out of material things to the corruption of institutions and morals.