惡
- evil, bad, wicked;
- to hate, to detest;
Etymology
Phono-semantic compound:
心 (heart, mind) – semantic, indicating emotions or moral character.
亞 (second, sub-; burial pit structure in Shang script) – phonetic element.
Early interpretations (influenced by Mencius’ 성선설 / “human nature is good”) suggested that 亞 represented a “second heart” → a corrupt or evil mind.
Modern scholarship explains 亞 as a phonetic component, originally depicting the layout of a Shang-dynasty tomb, without inherent negative meaning.
Semantic range:
- evil, wickedness, vice;
- bad, undesirable, harmful;
- to hate, to detest, to loathe;
- classical: “how, why” (interrogative, interchangeable with 安).
Usage in Korean
善惡 (선악) – good and evil
惡人 (악인) – evil person, villain
惡習 (악습) – bad habit
罪惡 (죄악) – sin, crime
惡意 (악의) – malice, ill will
喜惡 (희오) – likes and dislikes
Words that derived from 惡
- 선악(善惡)–good and evil; right and wrong
- 선악과(善惡果)–forbidden fruit; fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
- 악(惡)–evil; badness; vice
- 악마(惡魔)–Mara; Satan; the devil
- 악습(惡習)–bad habit; evil practice
- 악의(惡意)–evil heart; spite; ill will; impure intention
- 악하다(惡하다)–evil; wicked
- 악한(惡漢)–wicked fellow; villain
- 악행(惡行)–evil conduct; wrongdoing
- 죄악(罪惡)–crime; sin
Additional notes
Polyphonic:
악 (ak) in adjective: “bad, evil”
오 (o) in verb: “to hate, to detest”
In Korean/Chinese compounds, often pronounced 악; standalone verb/adjective sense tends toward 오.
Opposite in meaning to 好 (to like, to love).
In Classical Chinese texts, 惡 is frequently used in rhetorical questions with the meaning 어찌 (how/why).
