The kanji 嘆 primarily conveys the feeling of "sighing," "lamenting," or "grieving." It represents a deep emotional expression of sorrow, disappointment, or suffering. It implies a sense of feeling overwhelmed by something and expressing that emotion through a sigh or a lament.

・On-yomi (音読み): タン (tan) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): なげ（く） (nage(ku))

⚫︎ 嘆息 (tan-soku) Translation: Sigh; lamentation ⚫︎ 嘆かわしい (nagekawashii) Translation: Lamentable; deplorable; sad; regrettable ⚫︎ 嘆願 (tang-gan) Translation: Petition; appeal; request

The kanji 嘆 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The left side is the "mouth" radical, 口 (くち, kuchi), indicating that it is related to speech or expression. The right side is 難 (ナン, nan), which means "difficult" or "troublesome." Therefore, 嘆 suggests the difficulty and sorrow of a situation, which causes one to sigh or lament through the mouth. The combination of the mouth radical and the meaning of difficulty or trouble gives rise to the meaning of "sighing" or "lamenting."