The kanji 幹 primarily represents the “trunk” or “stem” of a tree. It signifies the central, main part of something, acting as a core or foundation. This core concept extends to other meanings related to leadership, the main part of an organization, or something central to a structure.

・On-yomi (音読み): カン ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): みき

⚫︎幹事 (かんじ) Translation: Secretary; person in charge; organizer. ⚫︎幹部 (かんぶ) Translation: Management; top executives; the leadership. ⚫︎樹幹 (じゅかん) Translation: Tree trunk.

The kanji 幹 is a phono-semantic compound. The left side is a part of the character that means wood (木), providing a semantic component indicating its connection to trees. The right side is 干 (kan), serving as a phonetic component, indicating the pronunciation. Therefore, the character depicts a tree’s main part, its trunk, highlighting both its material (wood) and sound.