The kanji 張 primarily conveys the meaning of "to stretch," "to extend," "to spread," "to put up," or "to display." It often implies an action of making something taut, covering a surface, or putting something in a visible or prominent position.

・On-yomi (音読み): チョウ (chou) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): は（る） (haru)

⚫︎主張（しゅちょう） Translation: assertion, claim ⚫︎頑張（がんば）って！ Translation: Do your best! (lit. Hang in there!) ⚫︎風船（ふうせん）を張（は）る Translation: To inflate a balloon

The kanji 張 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). It is composed of the radical 弓（ゆみ） (yumi – bow) on the left side, which provides the semantic component (meaning), and 長（ちょう） (chou - long/growth) on the right side, which acts as the phonetic component (sound). The original meaning of 張 was related to stretching a bow, hence the bow radical. Over time, the meaning expanded to encompass the general concept of stretching, expanding, or putting up something.