音読み: ト
訓読み: はく
画数: 6
部首: 口（くちへん）
Meaning
Spit / Vomit / Sigh / Speak Out
- 吐く — to spit / to vomit / to breathe out / to say frankly
- 吐息 — sigh / breath
- 吐露 — to reveal one’s true feelings / to speak openly
- 吐血 — vomiting blood / blood in one’s vomit
- 嘔吐 — vomiting; a medical term for throwing up
吐 puts the mouth radical 口 on the left, showing something that comes out of the mouth. The right side supplies the sound ト. The core idea is “to expel” — to throw something out. From there, it covers both the physical act of throwing up (吐く, 吐血) and the emotional act of letting true feelings out (吐露).
反吐 — The kanji 反 means “to turn back,” and 吐 is “to throw up.” Together, 反吐 gives the vivid idea of something forced back up from the stomach. In modern Japanese, 反吐 just means vomit — the result, not the action.
吐血 — 吐 is “to throw up,” and 血 is blood. 吐血 is a serious medical term: vomiting blood.