rice bin; rice chest
A container for storing uncooked rice, traditionally a wooden chest but now often a plastic bin.
I bought a new rice bin and transferred the rice into it.
Colloquial metaphor: the person whose earnings support the household, likened to a rice bin that supplies the staple food.
He is the breadwinner of the family.
Common mixed kanji-kana spelling; the second kanji 櫃 is often written in kana.
Full kanji spelling; less common in everyday writing but still seen.
Compound of 米 (こめ, 'rice') and 櫃 (びつ, 'chest, container'). The colloquial sense derives from the idea of the rice bin as the household's essential food supply.