The kanji "餓" (pronounced as *ga* in Japanese) fundamentally means "starvation," "hunger," or "famine." It describes a state of extreme lack of food, leading to suffering and potential death. The character evokes the idea of severe deprivation and the physical and emotional distress associated with it.

・On-yomi (音読み): ガ (*ga*) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): う（える） (*u(eru)*) - meaning "to starve"

⚫︎飢餓 Translation: Hunger; famine ⚫︎餓死 Translation: Death from starvation ⚫︎餓鬼 Translation: Hungry ghost (in Buddhism, a being suffering from insatiable hunger and thirst)

The kanji "餓" is a *形声文字* (keisei moji), a phono-semantic compound character. It is composed of two parts: ⚫︎The radical "飠" (食) on the left, which signifies "food" or "eating." ⚫︎The phonetic component "牙" (ga) on the right, which represents the sound "ga" and suggests the act of gnashing teeth due to hunger. The combination of "food" and "ga" therefore suggests a lack of food, leading to hunger and starvation. The evolution of the character reflects the importance of food and the suffering caused by its absence in ancient times.