The kanji 貫 primarily conveys the idea of "to pierce through," "to penetrate," "to go through," or "to pass through." It suggests the action of something going through something else, often completely, and therefore implies the idea of "to permeate" or "to connect." It can also mean to measure, or to indicate a unit of weight.

・On-yomi (音読み): カン ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): つらぬ（く） (tsuranu(ku))

⚫︎貫通（かんつう） Translation: Penetration; piercing through; pass through. ⚫︎一貫（いっかん） Translation: A unit of weight; one kan (a traditional Japanese unit of weight). ⚫︎首尾一貫（しゅびいっかん） Translation: Consistency from beginning to end; to be consistent.

The kanji 貫 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). The left side is a component representing a string of something, and the right side is a component representing a person. The original meaning relates to the action of passing a string through something like coins. This act is the meaning of "to pierce through." Later, it came to be used more broadly for the meanings it now holds, including measurement.