What is the Kanji for "Scanty" and "Scarce"?

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

The Japanese Kanji for "Scanty" and "Scarce" is "乏".

This kanji has 2 readings:

Its kunyomi reading is "Tobo".

Its onyomi reading is "Bou".

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 "丿" means "Katakana no" . And The component "之" .

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

What does the kanji "乏" mean in japanese?

"乏" means "Scanty" and "Scarce".

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:

貧乏: "Poor". The word '貧乏 (びんぼう)' is an adjectival noun in Japanese that primarily means 'poor'. It is used to describe a state of financial hardship, where someone lacks the means to afford basic necessities or a comfortable lifestyle. This word can have a range of connotations, from someone living in severe poverty to a person who simply has limited financial resources. For example: They live a poor life - (彼らは貧乏な生活をしている). The poor family struggled to make ends meet - (その貧乏な家族は生活費の捻出に苦労していた).

乏しい: "Scarce". The Japanese adjective '乏しい (とぼしい)' means 'scarce'. It is used to describe something that is in short supply or not plentiful. It can be applied to physical objects, resources, or even qualities and experiences. For example: There is a scarce supply of fresh water - (淡水が乏しい). Her knowledge on the subject was scarce - (その主題に関する知識は乏しかった).

貧乏人: "Poor person". The Japanese noun '貧乏人 (びんぼうにん)' refers to a 'poor person', someone who lacks financial resources and wealth. This term has a slightly negative connotation and can be seen as looking down on or looking at the less fortunate from an elevated social position. Example sentences: He is a poor person - (彼は貧乏人だ). The poor people in the countryside struggle to make ends meet - (田舎の貧乏人は生活が大変だ).

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 "ぼ" is read as "bo". The hiragana "う" is read as "u". And The hiragana "と" is read as "to".

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.