The kanji 鉛 primarily means "lead," the heavy, soft, and bluish-gray metallic element. It can also refer to things made of lead or related to lead.

・On-yomi (音読み): エン (en) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): なまり (namari)

⚫︎ 鉛筆 (えんぴつ) Translation: Pencil ⚫︎ 鉛中毒 (えんちゅうどく) Translation: Lead poisoning ⚫︎ 鉛管 (えんかん) Translation: Lead pipe

The kanji 鉛 is a 形声文字 (keisei moji), a phono-semantic compound. It is composed of the radical 金 (かね), meaning "metal" or "gold," and the phonetic component 㕣 (en), which provides the sound. This indicates the character's relationship to metal, specifically lead. The original form likely depicted lead ore or a lump of lead. Over time, the form evolved to its modern shape.