みなさんこんにちは。

毎月一つずつ漢字を紹介していこうと思います。
I will introduce one kanji per month.

１２月の漢字は「亡」です。

亡：（音読み「ボウ，モウ」）（訓読み「な」）

The meanings of this kanji are:
1. disappear
2. die
3. run and hide

Example usage for 亡 is as follows:
1. 滅亡 (めつぼう: extinction)
2. 死亡 (しぼう: death), 未亡人 (みぼうじん: widow)
3. 逃亡 (とうぼう: evading, escape), 亡命 (ぼうめい: defection)

Example sentence:
先日（せんじつ）、キャリーフィッシャーさんが亡（な）くなりましたね。とてもざんねんです。
A few days ago, Carrie Fisher passed away. It’s so sad.

People use 亡 when they talk about death. This is a polite version of 死ぬ. You can use 亡 to talk about your family’s death or other people’s death. Other ways to describe death are 他界する (たかい) and 永眠する(えいみん) and so on. 他 means “other” and 界 means “world,” so 他界する means to go to the other world. 永 means “forever” and 眠 means “sleep,” so永眠するmeans to sleep forever. I think the people who created these words to describe death had a nice imagination.

亡 is a sad word, but it’s very useful. It’s like saying “pass away” instead of “die.” You don’t want to say “When did your father die?” to your grieving friend.

How was today’s Kanji lesson?

I will decide next the kanji based on what happens next month. 🙂

お楽しみに！