The kanji 撤 generally conveys the meaning of "to withdraw," "to remove," "to abolish," or "to revoke." It implies a forceful or deliberate action of taking something away, canceling it, or causing something to cease. It suggests a process of removal or annulment.

・On-yomi (音読み): テツ (tetsu) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): not commonly used as a single word in modern Japanese.

⚫︎ 撤退 (撤退) Translation: withdrawal; retreat; pullout ⚫︎ 撤去 (撤去) Translation: removal; demolition; disposal ⚫︎ 撤回 (撤回) Translation: withdrawal; retraction; revocation

The kanji 撤 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字). The left side is the "氵" radical (水) which means "water". The right side is "敝" (hei) which is a component that provides a phonetic function that is also related to "to break". The original meaning could have been related to the process of causing the water to be withdrawn, and then it generalized to the meaning of withdrawal or removal.