The kanji 返 generally conveys the idea of "to return," "to reply," "to give back," or "to turn back." It implies a reversal of action or movement, a restoration to a previous state, or a response to something. It can relate to physical returns, such as giving something back, or abstract returns, such as replying to a message.

・On-yomi (音読み): へん (hen) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): かえ(す) (kae(su)), かえ(る) (kae(ru))

⚫︎返事 Translation: Reply, answer ⚫︎返す Translation: To return, to give back ⚫︎返金 Translation: Refund

This section is omitted as no reliable source is available to determine the correspondence between the origin of kanji 返 and the user's native language.

The kanji 返 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The left side is the radical 辶 (しんにょう, shinnyou) which means "walk" or "movement". The right side is 反 (はん, han) which originally depicted the palm of a hand (and later evolved to mean "turn over," "reverse," or "return"). Therefore, 返 originally depicted a person turning their hand and giving something back. The meaning evolved to cover a return in general.