The kanji 声 means "voice" or "sound." It refers to the sound produced by humans or animals, as well as the act of speaking or vocalizing. It can also extend to represent sounds in general, such as noises.

・On-yomi (音読み): セイ (sei) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): こえ (koe)

⚫︎声が大きい Translation: A loud voice. ⚫︎声が聞こえる Translation: I hear a voice. ⚫︎歌声 うたごえ Translation: Singing voice.

The kanji 声 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). The upper part represents a hand (represented by "ノ" and "口"), and the lower part is a phonetic component 生 (sei), which provides the sound of the character. The "hand" and "口" combine to represent the action of speaking, emphasizing the sound or voice that is produced. Over time, the form of the character has evolved slightly, but the core components and their meaning have remained consistent.