Kanji N1

劣: inferiority, be inferior to, be worse

劣 is a JLPT N1 kanji meaning inferiority, be inferior to, be worse, written with 6 strokes. It is read レツ (on) and おとる (kun). It is one of the jōyō kanji taught in secondary school. You will see it in 劣る (おとる, to be inferior to) and 劣勢 (れっせい, inferiority).

劣

Meanings

  • inferiority
  • be inferior to
  • be worse
Strokes6
JLPT levelN1
School gradeSecondary school
Frequency#1620 of 2,500

On reading · Kun reading

On reading
  • レツ

On'yomi: from Chinese, written in katakana. Used in compound words.

Kun reading
  • おとる

Kun'yomi: native Japanese, in hiragana. The faint part is the okurigana, written in kana after the kanji.

Watch the stroke order

Every stroke in order, the live one in vermilion. Replay as often as you like.

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Now draw it

Trace each stroke in order. Wrong direction or wrong order gets flagged right away.

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Your turn: draw stroke 1 of 6. Start at the dot.

Common words with 劣

The most useful words written with it, easiest first. Every other kanji in them opens its own page.

  • 劣るおとる

    to be inferior to; to be less good at

    JLPT N3
  • 劣勢れっせい

    inferiority (e.g. numerical); inferior position

  • 劣悪れつあく

    poor (quality, conditions, etc.); bad; inferior

  • 劣化れっか

    deterioration (in quality, performance, etc.)

  • 卑劣ひれつ

    mean; contemptible; despicable; dirty; foul

  • 優劣ゆうれつ

    (relative) merits; superiority or inferiority

  • 劣等感れっとうかん

    inferiority complex; sense of inferiority

  • 拙劣せつれつ

    clumsy; unskillful

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Stroke order from KanjiVG © Ulrich Apel, CC BY-SA 3.0. Readings, meanings and words from KANJIDIC2 and JMdict, names from JMnedict, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0, and Wikidata, CC0. JLPT lists after Jonathan Waller (tanos.co.uk), CC BY.