The kanji 欲 generally conveys the concept of "desire," "want," "greed," or "lust." It implies a strong longing or craving for something, whether it be material possessions, experiences, or abstract concepts. It can also suggest an ambition or a goal that one strives to achieve.

・On-yomi (音読み): ヨク (yoku) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): ほしい (hoshii) - to want; to desire

⚫︎ 食欲 (shokuyoku) Translation: appetite; desire for food. ⚫︎ 欲張り (yokubari) Translation: greedy; avaricious. ⚫︎ 物欲 (butsuyoku) Translation: desire for material possessions; materialism.

The kanji 欲 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, けいせいもじ). ⚫︎ The phonetic component is 谷 (tani), meaning "valley." Its role here is to provide the sound. ⚫︎ The semantic component (meaning component) is 欠 (kets), which originally depicted a person leaning or yawning, indicating a state of deficiency or lack. This sense of emptiness or needing something then evolved to become a symbol of desire. Therefore, the kanji 欲 combined 欠 (expressing the feeling of lacking) with 谷 (phonetic) to create the meaning of "want" or "desire."