The kanji 渇 primarily means "thirst" or "to be thirsty." It refers to the physical sensation of needing to drink water or the state of being dehydrated. It can also figuratively mean a lack or longing for something, such as "thirst for knowledge."

・On-yomi (音読み): カツ (katsu) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): かわ（く） (kawaku) - to be thirsty, to dry up

⚫︎渇望 Translation: yearning; craving; longing ⚫︎渇水 Translation: drought; water shortage ⚫︎喉が渇く Translation: To be thirsty (lit. "throat is thirsty")

The kanji 渇 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The semantic component is 水 (mizu, water) which provides the meaning. The phonetic component is 害 (gai), which represents the sound and suggests the meaning of "harm" or "damage." The original meaning of this character was related to water being lacking or drying up. It evolved to represent the feeling of thirst.