荒廃

こうはい · kouhai · JLPT N3 · noun

ruin

🏚️ 荒廃 = wild/overgrown (荒) + abandoned/disused (廃): left to ruin

荒 means wild, rough or desolate, as in 荒野 (wilderness). 廃 means abandoned or discarded, as in 廃墟 (ruins). Put together, the word describes something wasted and run-down. It sounds the same as 後輩 kouhai (junior), so check the kanji.

荒 — grass radical 艹 + 巟 (phonetic, 'vast/wild')
A semantic-phonetic compound: the grass radical 艹 on top gives the meaning of overgrown vegetation, while 巟 below supplies the sound and a sense of vast wildness. Originally it described land covered in wild weeds, then extended to 'wasteland,' 'desolate,' and figuratively 'absurd' or 'famine.'

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