The kanji 乾 generally conveys the meaning of "dry," "dried," "drought," or "to dry." It often implies a lack of moisture or the process of removing moisture. It can also relate to abstract concepts like drying out or becoming depleted.

・On-yomi (音読み): カン (kan) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): かわ（く） (kawa(ku)) - to dry; かわ（かす） (kawa(kasu)) - to dry (something)

⚫︎ 乾燥 (kansou) Translation: Drying; dehydration; dryness ⚫︎ 乾電池 (kandenchi) Translation: Dry cell battery ⚫︎ 乾杯 (kanpai) Translation: Cheers!; toast (literally, "dry the cup")

The kanji 乾 is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). The left side is the radical 乙, which is said to represent "a sprout" or "a plant growing." The right side is 倝, which is the phonetic component, conveying the sound "kan." The combination suggests the idea of something that is drying up or withering, associating the plant with dryness. It's also linked to the meaning of "heaven" in ancient times because heaven was seen as a source of drought.