The kanji 髪 primarily represents "hair" or "the hair of the head." It encompasses all aspects of hair, including its appearance, texture, and location. It is a fundamental term related to personal appearance.

・On-yomi (音読み): はつ (hatsu) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): かみ (kami)

⚫︎ 髪の毛 (kaminoke) Translation: Hair (of the head) ⚫︎ 白髪 (shiraga) Translation: Gray hair; white hair ⚫︎ 髪型 (kamigata) Translation: Hairstyle

The kanji 髪 is a 形声文字 (keisei moji), a phono-semantic compound. The left side is 糸 (ito), meaning "thread" or "silk", and the right side is 発 (hatsu), which provides the sound and originally meant "to start" or "to send out." The combination suggests threads or strands emanating from the head. Over time, the meaning became focused on the threads that make up hair.