犯罪
はんざい · hanzai · JLPT N3 · noun
crime
🚔 犯罪 = commit (犯 han) + guilt (罪 zai): committing guilt is a crime
犯 (han) means to violate or commit, as in 犯人 hannin, criminal. 罪 (zai) means guilt or sin, as in 無罪 muzai, not guilty. Chinese uses the same word: 犯罪 fànzuì.
犯 — dog radical 犭 + 㔾 (kneeling person)
Originally a semantic-phonetic compound: the dog radical 犭 suggested an animal attacking, while 㔾 (a kneeling figure) hinted at the sound and the idea of submission or transgression. The meaning broadened from 'a beast attacking a person' to 'to violate, offend, commit (a crime),' giving modern senses like 'criminal' and 'to infringe.'
罪 — net 罒 (top) + wrong 非 (bottom)
罪 combines 罒 (net) over 非 (wrong), suggesting catching wrongdoing in a net. Originally the character 辠 (with 自 nose + 辛 punishment) meant 'crime,' but Emperor Qin Shi Huang found 辠 too similar to 皇 (emperor) and replaced it with 罪. Today it means crime, guilt, or sin.