The kanji 泣 primarily represents the act of crying or weeping. It signifies the shedding of tears, often due to sadness, joy, pain, or other strong emotions. It embodies the expression of deep feelings through tears and sobs.

・On-yomi (音読み): キュウ (kyuu) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): 泣（な）く (naku)

⚫︎ 彼女は悲しくて泣いた。 Translation: She cried because she was sad. ⚫︎ 赤ちゃんが泣いている。 Translation: The baby is crying. ⚫︎ 感動して泣いてしまった。 Translation: I ended up crying from being moved.

The kanji 泣 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The semantic component is 氵 (san-zui), the water radical, which indicates a relationship to liquid or fluids, in this case, tears. The phonetic component is 立 (ritsu), which originally meant "to stand." The combination suggests the action of tears (water) streaming down while standing. Over time, the meaning shifted to solely represent crying.