What's the Kanji for "despair'?

Question

This question should be asked in the Language section, but I'll try my luck here anyway. I researched it in the internet, but I discovered that there are 2 symbols for the word. Does the word "despair" in Kanji a part of two separate letters combined?

Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

The Japanese words for "despair" in English are "絶望" or "失意", as you may already know.

There is no popular Kanji that means "despair" in one character in present Japan.

By the way, Japanese have been imported Kanji from China.

If there is (or there was) a Chinese character for "despair" in China, we can say there is a Kanji for "despair" in Japanese even if we rarely to use it.

My English-Chinese dictionary says that the Chinese character (called Kanji in Japan) for "despair" is "恨", but it is not same meaning as Japanese use and I'm not sure that if it is common in China to use this word as "despair".

We use "恨" (kon in Japan) as "curse", "hate" or "feel bitter" in Japan.

The same Chinese-English dictionary says "恨" (hen4 in China) is "to hate" in Chinese too.

This word is also reminds a particular meaning used by Koreans with pronunciation "han".

Answer 2

絶望

These 2 mean despair in Japanese. It does not mean anything if they are separated.

Answer 3

絶望、失望