The kanji 湖 primarily represents a "lake" or "large body of water". It signifies a natural collection of water, usually inland, and is typically larger than a pond but smaller than an ocean. The core meaning is associated with calmness, reflection, and the environment of still water.

・On-yomi (音読み): コ (ko) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): みずうみ (mizuumi)

⚫︎ 湖畔 (kohan) Translation: Lakeside; lakeshore. ⚫︎ 湖水 (kosui) Translation: Lake water. ⚫︎ 琵琶湖 (Biwako) Translation: Lake Biwa (a famous lake in Japan).

The kanji 湖 is a phono-semantic compound. It is composed of two parts: ⚫︎ The semantic component is 氵 (san-sui), which means "water". This provides the meaning related to water. ⚫︎ The phonetic component is 胡 (ko), which is used here for its sound (ko). Originally, 胡 meant "barbarian" or "foreign". The sound of 胡 was borrowed to create the kanji for "lake" combined with the water radical to specify the meaning.