The kanji character 葉 primarily represents "leaf" or "leaves" in the sense of the foliage of a plant. It can also extend to represent other flat, thin objects, depending on the context. The core concept is something flat, thin, and often green, growing from a plant.

・On-yomi (音読み): ヨウ (yō) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): は (ha)

⚫︎葉っぱ Translation: leaf (informal) ⚫︎紅葉 Translation: autumn leaves, fall colors ⚫︎落葉 Translation: fallen leaves

The kanji 葉 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The left side is the radical 艹 (くさかんむり, kusakanmuri), which signifies "grass" or "plant." The right side is 枼, a phonetic component, representing the sound "you" or "you." The combination suggests the concept of a leaf, linking the element of "plant" with the sound and also the visual aspect of a leaf.