The kanji 甚 primarily conveys the idea of "very," "extremely," "greatly," or "excessively." It indicates a high degree or intensity of something. It can also imply severity or seriousness.

・On-yomi (音読み): じん (jin) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): はなはだ(しい) (hanahada(shii))

⚫︎ 甚大な被害 Translation: Extensive damage ⚫︎ 甚だ遺憾である Translation: I deeply regret it. ⚫︎ 甚だしい Translation: Extreme; excessive

The kanji 甚 is a 形声文字 (keisei moji), a phono-semantic compound character. The character is composed of two parts: 弋 (yoku), meaning "to shoot an arrow," and 甘 (kan), meaning "sweet." The combination originally may have related to the idea of "a sweet arrow," perhaps referring to something that is particularly appealing or powerful. The use later evolved to express the degree of something.