The kanji character 旗 signifies a "flag," "banner," or "standard." It represents a piece of cloth or other material used as a symbol, signal, or for identification. The core meaning revolves around visual representation and communication through a visual medium.

・On-yomi (音読み): キ (ki) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): はた (hata)

⚫︎ 国旗 Translation: national flag ⚫︎ 旗を振る Translation: to wave a flag ⚫︎ 勝利の旗 Translation: flag of victory

The kanji 旗 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, けいせいもじ). It combines two parts: the radical 方 (hō), which initially represented "square" or "direction," and the phonetic component 其 (ki), which provides the sound and originally meant "its" or "that". The radical 方 here suggests a square cloth, which is a key element of the meaning of a flag, banner, or standard. Over time, these combined elements came to signify the concept of a flag.