The kanji 健 primarily conveys the idea of "healthy," "strong," "vigorous," or "sound." It refers to physical well-being and a state of being free from illness or injury. It can also imply a strong or robust state of being, both physically and metaphorically.

・On-yomi (音読み): ・ケン ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): ・すこ（やか） - often used in the adjective 健（すこ）やかな (sukoyaka), meaning "healthy," "sound," or "robust."

⚫︎ 健康（けんこう） Translation: Health ⚫︎ 健康診断（けんこうしんだん） Translation: Health checkup ⚫︎ 健（すこ）やかに育（そだ）つ Translation: To grow up healthy (lit. to grow up vigorously)

The kanji 健 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字 - keisei moji). It is composed of the radical 亻 (人 - hito, meaning "person" or "human") on the left and ⾻ (骨 - hone, meaning "bone") on the right, and 建 (建 - tate, meaning "build"). The radical 亻 suggests the involvement of a person. The right side, 骨, provides the sound and originally the meaning of "bone" or "skeleton", indicating the underlying structure and strength of the body. Combining these elements, the kanji originally depicts a person with a robust skeletal structure, suggesting "healthy" and "strong". The ⾻ component was later simplified to 建.