The Name Desire in Japanese/Chinese on a Custom-Made Wall Scroll.

This Chinese word can mean desirous, wishful, or desire.

The first character means to thirst for [something] or to be thirsty. The second character means to hope for, to expect, to gaze (into the distance), or to look for something. The combined meaning of these two characters changes a bit, but I think it's nice to know the individual meanings to give you a better understanding of where a word comes from.

Korean definitions of this word include craving, longing, and thirst for knowledge.

德西雷 is the transliteration to Mandarin Chinese for the Latin / Spanish name Desire.

熱望 is a Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and old Korean Hanja word that means, to aspire, longing for, or burning desire.

The first character means hot, heated, or burning.

The second character means hope, expectations, aspiration, or desire.

慾 means desire, longing, appetite, wish, covetousness, greed, passion, desire, avarice, and craving.

慾 is universal in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and Korean Hanja.

The context in which this character is used determines whether the meaning is good or bad. As a single character on a wall scroll, you get to decide what the definition is to you (hopefully more toward desire than greed).

Please note that Japanese use a simplified version of this character - it also happens to be the same simplification used in mainland China. Click on the character to the right if you want the Japanese/Simplified version of desire.

欲望 is a word that means strong desire, while some might translate it as “lust.”

The first character of this word means desire, longing, hunger, covetousness, greed, passion, desire, craving, or wish. The second character means to hope for, ambition, desire, aspire, expect, gaze (into the distance), or look for something.

願望 means desire, wish, or aspiration in Chinese and Japanese.

集諦 represents the idea that the core of suffering is often the concept of desire or attachment.

This can be carnal desire, monetary desire, or the attachment you have to something that you are unwilling to part with (such as a fancy car). 集諦 is a simplification of the second noble truth which is an exploration into the root causes of suffering - it's deeper than I can go in a few sentences.

This term is exclusively used by devout Buddhists. It is not a common term, and is remains an unknown concept to most Chinese, Japanese and Korean people.

See Also:  Buddhism | Enlightenment

滅諦 suggests that once you eliminate desire or attachment to worldly things, only then can you achieve enlightenment.

Realize that things are impermanent. That fancy car, beautiful spouse, big house, and impressive career are things you can't take with you. These things are a flash in the pan compared to the infinite span of history, generations to come, time, and space.

This term is exclusively used by devout Buddhists. It is not a common term, and is remains an unknown concept to most Japanese, Korean, and Chinese people.

See Also:  Buddhism | Enlightenment

情欲 can be defined as lust, sexual desire, sensual desire, carnal desire, carnal passions, sexual desire, and passion.

The first character means feeling, emotions, passionate, sympathy, affection, love, compassion, tender feelings, and sometimes circumstances or facts.

The second character means desire, longing, appetite, wish, covetousness, greed, passion, desire, and craving.

This word is universal in Chinese, Japanese Kanji, and Korean Hanja.

欲樂 is the Chinese and Japanese title representing the Buddhist and Jainist joys of the five desires.

Kama comes from the Pali/Sanskrit काम. The meaning is “desire, wish, longing.”

In Jainism, it can include sensual pleasure, sexual desire, and longing.

However, the Buddhist context refers more to any desire, wish, passion, longing, the pleasure of the senses, desire for, longing to and after, the aesthetic enjoyment of life, affection, or love, enjoyment of love is particularly with or without the enjoyment of sexual, sensual and erotic desire, and is often used without sexual connotations.

捨欲 is a Buddhist term that means to give up desire or the act of cutting off desire.

In Buddhism, our attachments, greed, and/or desires are the root of our suffering. Release them and live a happy life!

想い is a Japanese word that is often translated as desire.

Other definitions include thought, imagination, mind, heart, wish, hope, expectation, love, affection, feelings, emotion, sentiment, and/or experience. The context in which this word is used determines how it is understood.

望 holds the ideas of ambition, hope, desire, aspiring to, expectations, looking towards, to gaze (into the distance), and in some contexts, full moon rising.

望 is one of those single characters that is vague but in that vagueness, it also means many things.

望 is a whole word in Chinese and old Korean but is seldom seen alone in Japanese. Still, it holds the meanings noted above in all three languages.

Besides “to hope” this also means “to wish for” or “to desire.”

It can also mean expectation or aspiration depending on context.

Note: Also considered to be one of the Seven Heavenly Virtues.

See Also:  Faith | Desire

Beyond romantic passion, 激情 also means “strong emotion” or “fervor.”

The meaning in Japanese is a little more radical, as beyond "passion" it can be understood as "violent emotion" or "fury."