obliterate, vanish

泯 is composed of the water radical 水 (water) and 民 (commoner). Since 民 originally depicts an eye being blinded by a needle—a deliberate act by ancient rulers to destroy captives' ability to resist—it carries the underlying sense of neutralizing or eliminating. Paired with 水, which represents the act of washing, sweeping away, or cleansing, 泯 conveys the idea of completely wiping away, dissolving, or erasing. Thus, it came to mean to eliminate, extinguish, or disappear entirely.