The kanji 毒 primarily means "poison" or "toxic substance." It signifies something that is harmful and can cause illness or death. This core meaning extends to the metaphorical sense of something that can corrupt or have a negative influence.

・On-yomi (音読み): ドク (doku) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): None, but it is often used in compound words.

⚫︎ 毒薬 (dokuyaku) Translation: Poison; poison medicine. ⚫︎ 毒物 (dokubutsu) Translation: Poisonous substance; toxic material. ⚫︎ 中毒 (chuudoku) Translation: Poisoning; addiction; obsession.

The kanji 毒 is a 形声文字 (keisei moji), a phono-semantic compound character. The left side is the radical 氵 (sanzui, "water") which gives the semantic meaning, suggesting a connection to liquid or a substance. The right side is 幸 (kou), which originally meant "to bind someone or something by using a rope." It gives a phonetic suggestion. Originally, the combination might have referred to liquid used to capture animals by binding them. Over time, the meaning shifted to "poison" as something that affects the body like water.