The kanji 恨 expresses the emotion of resentment, bitterness, or grudge. It conveys a feeling of deep dissatisfaction, anger, and a desire for revenge or retribution due to a perceived wrong or injustice. It implies a lasting emotional impact, not just a fleeting feeling.

・On-yomi (音読み): コン (kon) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): うら.む (ura.mu) – to resent, to bear a grudge against

⚫︎ 恨み Translation: resentment; grudge ⚫︎ 恨む Translation: to resent; to bear a grudge ⚫︎ 無念を恨む Translation: to lament one's frustration

The kanji 恨 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, けいせいもじ). The semantic component (meaning part) is 心 (こころ, kokoro), meaning "heart" or "mind," indicating that the emotion originates in the feelings. The phonetic component (sound part) is 艮, which originally represented the lower body and, by extension, the time of day, "the end". Therefore, the character 恨 pictorially represents a feeling that "sticks" in the heart, or something that "lingers" in one's mind, creating the sense of resentment or bitterness. It combines the idea of feeling (from 心) with the idea of lingering or ending, suggesting that resentment is a lasting emotion.