The kanji 弊 primarily conveys the meanings of "defect," "disadvantage," "evil," "harm," "corruption," or "failure." It suggests something that is detrimental, flawed, or causes problems. This can relate to actions, situations, or even things.

・On-yomi (音読み): hei (へい) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): yamai (やまい) (rare)

⚫︎ 弊害 (heigai) Translation: Harmful effects, disadvantages, evils. ⚫︎ 弊社の製品 (heisha no seihin) Translation: Our company's products (used humbly when referring to one's own company). ⚫︎ 疲弊 (hihei) Translation: Exhaustion, being worn out, deterioration.

The kanji 弊 is a 形声文字 (keisei moji), which means it combines a semantic component (a part indicating meaning) and a phonetic component (a part indicating pronunciation). The semantic component is 敝, which depicts a broken or damaged object and represents "fault" or "defect." The phonetic component is also 敝 (hei), which gives the sound. The original meaning evolved to encompass various negative aspects like "harm," "evil," and "failure."