The kanji 劇 primarily conveys the meaning of "drama," "play," or "performance." It relates to a staged event involving actors, action, and a narrative. The character also encompasses the idea of something being intense, extreme, or dramatic.

・On-yomi (音読み): ゲキ (geki) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): None, as the primary meaning is directly represented by the on-yomi reading.

⚫︎ 劇（げき） Translation: Drama, play. ⚫︎ 劇（げき）的（てき） Translation: Dramatic, theatrical. ⚫︎ 悲（ひ）劇（げき） Translation: Tragedy.

The kanji 劇 is a phono-semantic compound. ⚫︎ The phonetic component is 豕 (shi), meaning "pig" or "swine," which contributes the sound element. ⚫︎ The semantic component is 刂 (to, kataba), which represents "knife" or "blade," and has to do with carving out, separating something into parts (implying the divisions and acts within a play, and so the cutting apart of the drama). ⚫︎ The combination suggests that 劇 originally referred to the cutting and arranging of performances and events, representing the act of creating and presenting a drama.