The kanji 染 represents the core meaning of "to dye," "to color," or "to stain." It implies the act of changing the color or appearance of something by applying a substance to it. It also suggests the idea of being affected or influenced by something, as a color permeates or spreads throughout a material.

・On-yomi (音読み): セン (sen) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): そ（める） (some-ru), そ（まる） (soma-ru), し（みる） (shi-miru)

⚫︎ 染色 (senshoku) Translation: dyeing; coloring ⚫︎ 染料 (senryō) Translation: dye; coloring agent ⚫︎ 影響に染まる (eikyō ni soma-ru) Translation: to be influenced; to be affected

The kanji 染 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The left side is the water radical (氵), which is a component indicating that the character is related to liquids or processes involving water. The right side is 九 which acts as the phonetic component, indicating the pronunciation. The original meaning relates to coloring things using dyes and liquids. The meaning then expanded to encompass staining or being affected.