The kanji 切 primarily conveys the idea of "to cut," "to sever," or "to slice." It represents the action of dividing something into pieces or separating it. This core meaning extends to various related concepts such as being sharp, ending, or even feeling intense emotions.

・On-yomi (音読み): セツ (setsu) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): きる (kiru), きれる (kireru)

⚫︎ 切る Translation: To cut (something) ⚫︎ 大切 Translation: Important, precious (literally: important and cutting) - Note how the meaning extends from "cutting off" or "separating" to "holding something apart" as important. ⚫︎ 親切 Translation: Kind, helpful (literally: intimacy and cutting) - Here, the cutting implies to severing, and sharing closeness with others.

The kanji 切 is a pictophonetic character, combining a semantic component (a knife) and a phonetic component. The left side is a simplified version of the radical for "knife" 刀, indicating an action related to cutting. The right side is the component 七 (shichi), which functions as the phonetic part, contributing to the sound of the kanji. The original form represented a knife cutting or severing something.