The kanji 漢 primarily refers to the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), a significant period in Chinese history. It also denotes the Chinese people, language, and culture associated with this dynasty. The character encapsulates a sense of "China," "Chinese," and often by extension, things related to China.

・On-yomi (音読み): カン (kan) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): None, as the meaning is generally borrowed directly from Chinese.

⚫︎漢方 (kanpou) Translation: Traditional Chinese medicine. ⚫︎漢文 (kanbun) Translation: Classical Chinese writing. ⚫︎漢民族 (kanminzoku) Translation: Han Chinese ethnic group.

The kanji 漢 is a 形声文字 (keisei moji), which means "ideophonetic compound". The character combines the phonetic component 干 (kan), which indicates the sound, with the radical 氵 (sanzui), which represents "water." This radical was later replaced with the radical 又 (mata). The original meaning was connected to the name of the Han River, an important river in ancient China. The character evolved to represent the Han dynasty, and then by extension, China itself.