The kanji 准 has the core meaning of "to conform to," "to quasi-," "to follow," or "to equal." It often implies a standard or a level of approximation.

・On-yomi (音読み): ジュン (jun) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): None commonly used independently.

⚫︎準決勝 (じゅんけっしょう) Translation: Semi-final ⚫︎準急 (じゅんきゅう) Translation: Semi-express train ⚫︎準ずる (じゅんずる) Translation: To conform to; to be equivalent to

The kanji 准 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). The left side is a radical (部首) representing "ice" or "water" （冫or 氵）. The right side is 隹 which depicts a small bird. The original meaning might have been related to the bird's precise movements, representing the idea of conformity to a standard. Over time, the meaning evolved towards "to conform to" or "to be quasi-."