The kanji 鍛鍛 fundamentally represents the concept of forging, hammering, and shaping metal. It implies the process of heating metal and then shaping it by using tools like hammers. This process is done to strengthen, refine, or create a specific form.

・On-yomi (音読み): タン (tan) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): きた（える） (kita(eru))

⚫︎鍛錬 Translation: Training; discipline; tempering. ⚫︎鍛冶屋 Translation: Blacksmith; forge. ⚫︎精神を鍛える Translation: To strengthen one's spirit/mind.

The kanji 鍛鍛 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). The left side of the character is a radical, 釒 (金) (kan) which means metal. The right side of the character, 臤, provides the phonetic component, suggesting the sound and perhaps the idea of hardness or firmness. Putting these components together, the character was formed to depict a process that strengthens metal by using a process to heat it and hammer it, similar to the process used in a blacksmith's shop. The original shape shows the process of making metal stronger by hitting it with a hammer.