The kanji character 徒 primarily conveys the meanings of "follower," "pedestrian," "idle," or "vain." It often refers to someone who is a companion, a follower, or someone involved in an activity without a clear purpose or goal. It can also imply a lack of substance or something that is fruitless.

・On-yomi (音読み): ト (to) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): いたずら (itazura - mischief, prank); ともがら (tomogara - companions, followers)

⚫︎ 徒党(トトウ) Translation: a group of followers; a gang ⚫︎ 徒手空拳(トシュクウケン) Translation: empty-handed (lit. "bare hands and empty fists"); without resources ⚫︎ 徒然草(ツレズレグサ) Translation: Essays in Idleness (name of a famous Japanese essay collection)

The kanji 徒 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The left side is the radical of "person" (人, nin, hito) and the right side is the character 止 (shi, to - stop, halt). The original meaning suggests someone "stopping" or "standing still" in relation to a person or people. Over time, the meaning evolved to represent someone who is a follower or someone who is without purpose, associated with the sense of stopping or being idle.