The kanji 酒 means "sake," "alcohol," or "liquor." It encompasses any alcoholic beverage made through fermentation. The core concept is something that intoxicates or has alcoholic content, often used in social settings or for celebrations.

・On-yomi (音読み): シュ (shu) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): さけ (sake), さか (saka - in some compound words)

⚫︎日本酒 Translation: Japanese sake ⚫︎お酒を飲む Translation: To drink alcohol ⚫︎飲酒運転 Translation: Drunk driving

The kanji 酒 is a pictographic-semantic compound (会意文字). It combines two components: ⚫︎ The radical 酉 (ひよみ - tori), which originally depicted a wine vessel. 酉 by itself, in older forms, also represented alcohol or fermentation. ⚫︎ The water radical 氵 (さんずい - san sui), which represents water or liquid. The combination of these elements visually represents the process of making alcohol, with the vessel and the liquid being key elements. The development of the character clearly shows the association of the character with alcoholic drinks.