The kanji 聴 essentially means "to listen," "to hear," or "to heed." It focuses on the act of paying attention to and processing sounds, whether they are spoken words, music, or other auditory information. It implies a conscious effort to perceive and understand what is being heard.

・On-yomi (音読み): チョウ (chou) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): き（く） (ki(ku))

⚫︎ 聴解 Translation: Listening comprehension ⚫︎ 聴衆 Translation: Audience; listeners ⚫︎ ご意見を聴く Translation: To listen to opinions; to hear opinions

The kanji 聴 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, けいせいいもじ). ⚫︎ The semantic component is 耳, which means "ear," indicating the connection to the sense of hearing. ⚫︎ The phonetic component is 廷 (tei/chou), which originally depicted a court or gathering place. The combination suggests listening attentively, as one would do in a court.