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貧乏くじ (びんぼうくじ) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
Freq. Frequency Top 100,000 Meanings 1
noun
short end of the stick ; unlucky draw ; bad bargain
Refers to drawing the worst lot in a lottery, or figuratively getting stuck with an undesirable task or outcome. Often used in the phrase 貧乏くじを引く (to draw the short straw).
No matter how you look at it, this job is a bad bargain.
Written forms 貧びん 乏ぼう くじ
Standard mixed kanji-kana spelling; the most common written form.
貧びん 乏ぼう 籤くじ
Full kanji spelling using the non-jōyō character 籤; rarely used in modern writing.
Kanji 乏 destitution, scarce, limited Etymology Compound of 貧乏 (poverty, poor) and くじ (lot, lottery). Literally 'poverty lot', referring to a losing or unlucky draw.