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Kotomora

貧

poverty, poor

JLPTN3StatusJōyō · grade 5FrequencyTop 2,000Strokes11

Readings

On'yomi

  • ヒン
  • ビン

Kun'yomi

  • まず.しい

Meaning

貧 centers on a lack of material resources: being poor or in poverty. The idea is consistently about scarcity and need.

Most common words using 貧

20 of 108
  • 貧困ひんこん
    N1

    poverty; penury; need; destitution

  • 貧ひん

    poverty; penury; want; need

  • 貧しいまずしい
    N3

    poor; needy

  • 貧乏びんぼう
    N2

    poverty-stricken; destitute; poor; penurious

  • 貧血ひんけつ
    N1

    anemia; anaemia

  • 貧乏人びんぼうにん
    N1

    poor person; the poor

  • 貧弱ひんじゃく
    N1

    poor; meagre; meager; feeble; scanty; shabby; insubstantial

  • 貧民ひんみん

    poor people; the poor

  • 貧富ひんぷ
    N1

    wealth and poverty; rich and poor

  • 貧相ひんそう

    poor-looking; impoverished-looking

  • 貧するひんする

    to become poor; to be poor

  • 貧乏神びんぼうがみ

    god of poverty

  • 極貧ごくひん

    destitution

  • 貧者ひんじゃ

    poor person

  • 清貧せいひん

    poverty without selfish desire; honourable poverty (honorable); being poor yet honest

  • 貧乏性びんぼうしょう

    parsimonious spirit; tendency to be frugal; inclination to scrimp and save

  • ジリ貧ジリひん

    gradually becoming poor; situation getting gradually worse and worse

  • 器用貧乏きようびんぼう

    jack of all trades, master of none

  • 貧乏くじびんぼうくじ

    short end of the stick; short straw; unlucky number; blank; bad bargain

  • 貧打ひんだ

    poor hitting

Explore all words using 貧 →

Study

Etymology

貧 combines 分 (divide, separate) and 貝 (shell, money), suggesting the idea of dividing wealth until little remains, leading to poverty.

Meaning mnemonic

Picture dividing (分) your money (貝) among too many things until you have almost nothing left. That's poverty.

Reading mnemonic

For ヒン, imagine a poor person holding a nearly empty tin can: tin -> ヒン, and the can is almost empty because of poverty.