The kanji 汗 primarily represents "sweat" or "perspiration," the salty liquid produced by the body when it gets warm, especially during exercise or in a hot environment. It is also used figuratively to describe effort or labor.

・On-yomi (音読み): カン (kan) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): あせ (ase)

⚫︎ 汗をかく Translation: To sweat. ⚫︎ 冷や汗 (hiyaase) Translation: Cold sweat; a state of fear or anxiety. ⚫︎ 大汗をかく (ooase wo kaku) Translation: To sweat profusely.

The kanji 汗 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). It combines the water radical (氵, ⺡), which indicates a relationship with water or liquid, and the phonetic component 干 (kan), which originally meant "to dry" or "to be parched." The combination suggests the body's water drying or being expelled, hence sweat. The character evolved from pictographic representations of liquid and a symbol of exertion.