drought, dry, desiccate, drink up, heaven, emperor
乾 centers on dryness and the removal of moisture: drought, desiccation, and drinking up liquids. The meanings 'heaven' and 'emperor' are separate, derived from its use in classical Chinese cosmology where it represents the creative, dry, male principle.
乾 originally depicted a plant or banner rising upward, associated with dryness and the creative force in Chinese cosmology. The modern form combines 倝 (sunrise) with 乙, but the exact historical development is uncertain.
The left side looks like a sun 日 rising over a cross 十, baking the earth dry. The right side 乙 suggests a twisted, parched plant. Together they show a drought scene.
For カン, imagine a dry, empty can baking in the sun: can -> カン, and the drought leaves everything desiccated.
dryness; aridity; drying (e.g. clothes); dehydration; desiccation
to get dry
cheers; bottoms-up; prosit
qian (one of the trigrams of the I Ching: heaven, northwest)
to dry (clothes, etc.); to desiccate
dry cell battery
drying; dryness
dry provisions; dried food; dried goods; groceries
dried noodles
cracker; hard biscuit; hardtack
dry season
dry (method); dry-type; without using water
dry; dryness; dry (pleurisy)
psoriasis
Chinese smoked and salted ham
half-dried
drying in the shade
dry plate
alkaline battery
manganese dry cell