The kanji 被 primarily conveys the idea of "to be subjected to," "to be affected by," "to receive," or "to suffer." It often implies a passive action, where something is done *to* someone or something. It suggests being covered, affected, or influenced by something else.

・On-yomi (音読み): ヒ (hi) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): こうむ.る (koumu.ru) - This is the primary and most common kun-yomi reading.

⚫︎ 被害 (higai) Translation: Damage; injury; harm; loss ⚫︎ 被災 (hisai) Translation: Being a victim of disaster; suffering damage ⚫︎ 被験者 (hikensha) Translation: Subject (of an experiment or study)

The kanji 被 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字 - keisei moji). The left side is a radical called 衣 (ころも - koromo), meaning "clothing" or "garment," which provides the semantic (meaning) component. The right side is 皮 (かわ - kawa), meaning "skin" or "hide," which provides the phonetic (sound) component, and also hints at the idea of covering or enveloping something. The original meaning of the character likely related to being covered or protected, evolving to its current sense of being subjected to or affected by something.