The kanji 万 primarily means "ten thousand" or a large quantity. It represents a significantly large number, used to indicate an abundance or vastness. It can also imply "everything" or "all" in certain contexts, expanding from the idea of a very large set.

・On-yomi (音読み): マン (man) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): None, as the meaning is a numerical concept.

⚫︎ 一万円 Translation: Ten thousand yen. ⚫︎ 万歳 Translation: "Banzai!", an exclamation of long life, happiness, or victory. ⚫︎ 万能 Translation: All-purpose, versatile, or omnipotent.

The kanji 万 is a pictograph. It originally depicted a scorpion. The scorpion was chosen because of its association with numbers. The scorpion was seen in ancient China to have a lot of legs. In addition, people thought scorpions were able to get rid of things and could protect. Later, the meaning of "ten thousand" came to be associated with this character, symbolizing a large quantity, as it was considered a very high number. The shape of the character evolved over time.