憎む

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 憎む(にくむ) is a transitive verb for feeling strong hatred or hostility toward someone or an action.
• Basic usage: It can describe hatred of a person as well as an attitude of detesting crime or conflict.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• The target of the feeling
  • 罪を憎む and 人を憎む use the same verb but direct the hatred at different targets.
  • The word can appear in contexts distinguishing a judgment about an action from a feeling toward a person.
• Emotional force compared with 嫌う
  • Whereas 嫌う broadly covers disliking or having an aversion to something, 憎む often conveys stronger hostility or resentment.
  • Its forms include 憎んで and 憎んだ.