The kanji 貫 primarily conveys the concept of "to pierce," "to penetrate," "to go through," or "to pass through." It suggests the action of something going through or extending completely from one side to the other. It can also imply a unit of measurement.

・On-yomi (音読み): カン (kan) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): つらぬ(く) (tsuranu(ku)), ぬき (nuki)

⚫︎貫通 (kantsuu) Translation: Penetration; piercing through ⚫︎一貫 (ikkan) Translation: Thoroughness; consistency; a unit of weight (typically used in the context of rice) ⚫︎意見を貫く (iken o tsuranuku) Translation: To stick to one's opinion; to persist in one's views

The kanji 貫 is a pictophonetic compound. The top part represents a "shell" or "coin" (貝). The bottom component is a hand holding a coin or a tool. Together, the kanji originally depicted the action of stringing coins together, forming a "string of coins." This then evolved to mean "to pass through" or "to connect," extending to its present meanings of penetrating and going through. The meaning of a unit of measurement also arose from the notion of counting objects that had been strung together.