The kanji 潜 generally conveys the meaning of "to hide," "to submerge," "to conceal," or "to lurk." It implies being hidden from view, either physically or figuratively, such as beneath the surface of water or in secret. It can also refer to something that is concealed or not readily apparent.

・On-yomi (音読み): セン ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): ひそ（む）、もぐ（る）

⚫︎潜水 (せんすい) Translation: Diving; Submarine activity. ⚫︎潜入 (せんにゅう) Translation: infiltration; sneaking in. ⚫︎潜伏期間 (せんぷくきかん) Translation: Latent period; incubation period.

The kanji 潜 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). The left side is a water radical (氵, also written as 水) and indicates that the meaning is related to water. The right side is 㚘 (pronounced like a sound of *sen*), which acts as a phonetic component to indicate the pronunciation. The original meaning of this kanji was "to submerge" or "to dive," which is why it has the water radical.