The kanji 否 primarily conveys the meaning of "no," "not," "deny," or "refuse." It represents the concept of negation, disagreement, or rejection. It is the opposite of affirmation or acceptance.

・On-yomi (音読み): ヒ (hi) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): いな (ina)

⚫︎ 否定 (hitei) Translation: Negation, denial ⚫︎ 否決 (hiketsu) Translation: Rejection, veto ⚫︎ 可否 (kahi) Translation: Yes or no; Approval or disapproval

The kanji 否 is a pictophonetic character. The left part is 口 (kuchi, mouth), and the right part is 不 (fu, not). The character originally depicts a person with a mouth (口) saying "no" or "not" (不). The combination of the mouth and the negative marker "not" creates the meaning of denial. The original form of "not" (不) is a depiction of a plant with roots that don't grow well, which comes to mean "not" or "negative".