The kanji 討 primarily conveys the meaning of "to attack," "to punish," or "to defeat." It suggests a forceful action aimed at overcoming an opponent or achieving a specific goal, often involving conflict or confrontation. The core idea is to eliminate or suppress something, whether it be a physical enemy, a problem, or an undesirable element.

・On-yomi (音読み): 　・トウ (tō) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): 　・う（つ） (u(tsu)) - to attack, to defeat

⚫︎討論（とうろん） Translation: discussion, debate ⚫︎討伐（とうばつ） Translation: subjugation, to conquer ⚫︎討つ（うつ） Translation: to attack; to defeat

The kanji 討 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字 - keisei moji). It is composed of two parts: ・ The radical 讠(言) meaning "speech" or "words," which provides a semantic element related to the actions of the character. ・ The phonetic component 寸 (sun) which means "inch" or "a small unit of measure." The 寸 provides the sound of the kanji. Originally, the character might have depicted someone speaking out or criticizing an enemy, and subsequently the meaning grew to mean "attack" or "to defeat"