The kanji 幕 generally means "curtain," "screen," "act," or "scene." It often refers to a covering used to conceal something, or a part of a theatrical performance or event. It can also figuratively represent something that obscures or hides.

・On-yomi (音読み): バク (baku) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): まく (maku)

⚫︎開会幕 Translation: The opening act/curtain-up. ⚫︎映画の終幕 Translation: The end of a movie. ⚫︎大幕 Translation: A large curtain.

The kanji 幕 is a 形声文字 (keisei moji), a phono-semantic compound character. The character is composed of the radical 巾 (きん, kin), which signifies "cloth" or "fabric," and the phonetic component 莫 (ばく, baku), which originally suggested "sunset" or "evening." Therefore, the character depicts the idea of a fabric curtain or screen that is used as a covering or divider. The 莫 component suggests the idea of a covering as a curtain used to darken a room.