The kanji 鏡 primarily represents a "mirror" or "reflection." It encompasses the idea of reflecting light, images, and, by extension, other qualities like appearance, and even metaphorically, one's inner self. The core concept revolves around the idea of something showing or mirroring something else.

・On-yomi (音読み): キョウ (kyou) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): かがみ (kagami)

⚫︎ 鏡（かがみ） Translation: mirror ⚫︎ 眼鏡（めがね） Translation: glasses (literally "eye mirror") ⚫︎ 万華鏡（まんげきょう） Translation: kaleidoscope (literally "ten-thousand-flower mirror")

The kanji 鏡 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The left side is the radical 金 (かね), representing "metal" or "gold," reflecting the materials traditionally used to make mirrors. The right side is 竟 (きょう, kyou), which contributes to the sound and originally depicted a person in front of a loom, symbolizing the act of finishing or completing something, implying the completeness of the mirror's image. This combination suggests that a mirror is an instrument made of metal used to reflect a complete image.