The kanji 渇 means "thirst," "dry," or "to be parched." It describes the sensation of needing water or a state of extreme dryness. The core concept revolves around a lack of moisture or fluid.

・On-yomi (音読み): カツ (katsu) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): かわ（く） (kawaku) - to become thirsty/dry.

⚫︎喉が渇いた。 Translation: I am thirsty. ⚫︎渇水 Translation: drought; water shortage. ⚫︎渇望 Translation: yearning; craving.

The kanji 渇 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). The left side is the radical 氵 or 水, which means "water." This indicates the meaning, related to water or lack thereof. The right side is 曷 which provides the sound and originally suggested "why" or "how" but was adopted phonetically to create the sound カツ(katsu). Thus, the character combines the element of water with a phonetic component to represent the concept of thirst and dryness due to a lack of water.