からっけつ

か

ら

っ

け

つ

Meanings

na-adjective, noun

flat broke; penniless

colloquialusually written using kana alone

Colloquial and somewhat emphatic; used when someone has absolutely no money.

給きゅう料りょう日び前まえで、もうからっけつだ。
I'm flat broke right before payday.
財さい布ふの中なかはからっけつだった。
My wallet was completely empty.

Kanji

空empty, sky, void
穴hole, aperture, slit

Related words

すっからかん
Also means completely empty or broke, but すっからかん can refer to containers or spaces being empty, not just money.
文もん無なし
Means penniless, but is more neutral and less colloquial than からっけつ.

Written forms

カラッケツUsage50%
kana-only spelling
Katakana spelling sometimes used for emphasis or in casual writing.
空からっけつUsage50%
Rare kanji spelling; the reading からっけつ is not obvious from the characters.
空からっ穴けつ
Rare kanji spelling; the reading からっけつ is not obvious from the characters.

Etymology

Likely from 空 (から, 'empty') with an emphatic geminate suffix っけつ, possibly influenced by けつ (slang for 'buttocks' or 'last'), but the exact derivation is uncertain.