The kanji 漱 primarily conveys the meaning of "to rinse," "to gargle," or "to wash the mouth." It is related to cleaning and refreshing the mouth.

・On-yomi (音読み): ソウ (sou) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): 漱ぐ (susugu)

⚫︎ 洗漱 (sensou) Translation: Washing and rinsing; washing and gargling. ⚫︎ 漱口 (soukou) Translation: To rinse one's mouth; mouthwash. ⚫︎ 漱石枕流 (soushikichinryuu) Translation: A literary term referring to someone who stubbornly adheres to their own views or principles. This is an idiom referring to a famous Chinese calligrapher.

The kanji 漱 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). It is composed of two parts: * The water radical 氵(さんずい) on the left, which indicates that the character has something to do with water. * The phonetic component 欶 (soku), which contributes to the pronunciation ソウ (sou). The phonetic component, when used as a kanji itself, also relates to drinking. The combination suggests the action of using water to rinse the mouth. The origin points to the use of water for the act of washing or cleansing one's mouth.