What 祓 means
It names a rite for removing impurity, danger, or misfortune.
A study records 祓 in Western Zhou bronze inscriptions, placing it in early Chinese ritual writing. Rites associated with the character wash away pollution or drive off danger and misfortune, sometimes while seeking blessing.
Japanese Shinto uses 祓 for formal purification, including the seasonal 大祓 ceremony. Its Japanese readings are ha-ra-e (はらえ) and ha-rai (はらい); 祓う, read ha-ra-u (はらう), is the verb “to purify.” Chinese dictionaries also preserve senses of ritual washing and removing evil.
Formal religious vocabulary; standalone 祓 sounds like a rite, not an everyday message.
In Japanese, 祓う is ritual cleansing; ordinary paying or sweeping is 払う.
Don't confuse it with
1Combination ideas
2Questions people ask
2Why does 祓 look different?
As of 2026, the same encoded character may have different stroke shapes in Chinese- and Japanese-language fonts; the selected font's regional conventions affect its display.
Is 祓 the same as 禊?
No. 禊 centers on purification through water; 祓 is broader and also covers removal rites that do not depend on water.
How to type 祓
祓\7953Codes and encoding1 code points
A visible symbol can contain several code points. JS .length counts UTF-16 units; UTF-8 counts bytes.