音読み: カン
訓読み: ほす・ひる
画数: 3
部首: 干（かん）
Meaning
Dry / Interfere / Shield
- Basic forms
- 干す — dry; hang out to dry / base form
- 干します — dries; hangs out to dry / masu form
- 干した — dried; hung out to dry / ta form
- 干して — drying … / te form
- 干さない — do not dry / negative
- 干せば — if (one) dries / conditional
- 干せ — dry it! / imperative
- Common expressions
- 洗濯物を干す — hang out laundry
- 布団を干す — air bedding
- 魚を干す — dry fish
- More
- 干される — be dried; be hung out to dry / passive
- 干している — is drying; is hung out to dry / state
干す（ほす） is a godan transitive verb. It means to dry something by exposing it to air or sunlight, commonly used for laundry, bedding, or food.
- 干物 — dried food (esp. fish)
- 干潮 — low tide
- 干す — to dry / to air
- 若干 — a few / some
- 干渉 — interference / intervention
- 干支 — zodiac signs (Chinese cycle)
- 干満 — ebb and flow (tides)
- 日干し — sun drying / airing in the sun
干 originally depicted a pole or shield. Over time, it came to mean “to dry” by exposure, and also “to interfere” or “involve.” Its uses extend from physical drying to figurative intervention.
洗濯物を 干してきました。
I just hung the laundry out to dry.
政治に 干渉すべきではない。
You shouldn’t interfere in politics.
若干 — a few / some