The kanji 北 primarily represents "north." It denotes a direction and is associated with the northern point of the compass.

・On-yomi (音読み): ホク (hoku) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): きた (kita)

⚫︎ 北（きた）へ行（い）く Translation: To go north. ⚫︎ 北（きた）の国（くに） Translation: The northern country. ⚫︎ 北（ほく）海（かい）道（どう） Translation: Hokkaido (literally "North Sea Road").

The kanji 北 is a pictograph. Originally, it depicted two people standing back-to-back, which symbolized the north as the direction opposite of the south, facing away from the sun. Over time, the shape evolved into the current form.