What is the Kanji for "Debt"?

If you are wondering what is the Japanese Kanji for "Debt", you've come to the right place!

The Japanese Kanji for "Debt" is "債".

This kanji has 1 reading:

Its onyomi reading is "Sai".

kunyomi readings are based on the pronunciation of native Japanese words, and onyomi readings are based on the Chinese pronunciation of the character.

If you visually breakdown this kanji, you can see is made up of 2 parts:

The radical "亻" means "Person" . And The kanji "責" means "Blame" and "Liability" and can be read as "Seki" and "Se".

Now, let's make sure you understand this kanji the other way around too.

What does the kanji "債" mean in japanese?

"債" means "Debt".

Japanese School Students learn this kanji in Junior Highschool, while foreigners may learn this kanji in preparation for the JLPT N1 exam.

Here are some words that use this kanji:

債権: "Claim". The Japanese noun '債権 (さいけん)' means 'claim'. It refers to a legal right to demand payment or the fulfillment of an obligation from another party. This can include things like unpaid bills, loans, or other financial agreements. For example: The company has many outstanding claims - (その会社には債権がたくさんある). The bank holds the claim against the borrower - (銀行は借り手に対する債権を持っている).

債務: "Debt". The noun '債務 (さいむ)' means 'debt'. This refers to an amount of money that one party owes to another party, typically as a result of borrowing. Debt can be personal, such as a mortgage or loan, or it can be owed by a business or government. Some examples: The company has a large debt burden - (その会社は巨額の債務を抱えている). I need to pay off my student debt - (私は学生ローンの債務を返済する必要がある).

社債: "Bond". The Japanese word '社債 (しゃさい)' refers to a bond or debt security issued by a company. It is a type of corporate bond that represents a loan to the issuing company. These bonds are typically sold to investors and provide the company with capital for funding operations or expansion. For example: The company issued 社債 to raise money for a new factory - (会社は新しい工場のために社債を発行した).

負債: "Debt". The Japanese noun '負債 (ふさい)' refers to a debt or an obligation that one owes to another party. This can include financial debts, such as loans or outstanding bills, as well as other kinds of obligations. The word is often used in the context of personal or corporate finance, where managing and reducing debt is an important consideration. For example: The company has a large debt burden - (その会社は負債が大きい). She is trying to pay off her debts - (彼女は負債を返済しようとしている).

To make really sure you learn this Kanji, I've prepared an interactive lesson for you. You are going to learn the readings and meanings of this kanji.

But first, you need to know a little bit about Hiragana and Katakana.

Hiragana and katakana are japanese syllabaries, this means that each character represents a syllable.

This are the characters you need to know for this lesson:

The hiragana "さ" is read as "sa". And The hiragana "い" is read as "i".

Heres a quick tutorial on how to use it. You'll be asked three type of questions: meaning, reading, and writing.

For meanings questions all you have to do is type the english meaning. If there is more than one meaning, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Reading questions you have to type the reading in romaji (roman letters, our normal alphabet) and it'll be automatically converted to hiragana if necessary. If there is more than one reading, you have to include them all in your answer separating them by commas (,).

For Writing questions some options will appear and all you have to do is select the correct ones.