憂
melancholy · grieve · lament · be anxious · sad · unhappy
Details
Stroke Order
Component Breakdown
㥑 + go slowly
Cultural Context
Etymology
Combines 'heart' (心) with a figure bowing their head, depicting emotional heaviness. Represents deep worry and melancholy weighing on the spirit.
Symbolism
Symbolizes deep concern, sorrow, and contemplative anxiety. A literary character representing the introspective, sensitive aspects of human emotion.
Related Culture & Scenes
- — Drowning in sadness
Words & Expressions
Four-Character Compounds
一喜一憂
いっきいちゆう
alternating between happiness and anxiety; swinging between joy and sorrow; being glad and sad by turns; alternating between happiness and anxiety
内憂外患
ないゆうがいかん
troubles both at home and abroad; troubles both at home and abroad
先憂後楽
せんゆうこうらく
worrying before one's people worry, enjoying oneself only after one's people have enjoyed themselves (a precept to be observed by a ruler); worrying before one's people worry, enjoying oneself only after one's people have enjoyed themselves (a precept to be observed by a ruler)
遠慮近憂
えんりょきんゆう
failure to think of the long term leads to grief in the short term; failure to think of the long term leads to grief in the short term
Poetry
ありあけの つれなく見えし 別れより 暁ばかり 憂きものはなし
Poem #30 from Hyakunin Isshu
憂かりける 人を初瀬の 山おろしよ はげしかれとは 祈らぬものを
Poem #74 from Hyakunin Isshu
思ひわび さてもいのちは あるものを 憂きにたへぬは 涙なりけり
Poem #82 from Hyakunin Isshu
ながらへば またこのごろや しのばれむ 憂しと見し世ぞ 今は恋しき
Poem #84 from Hyakunin Isshu