food expenses; cost of one's board
Refers to the money needed to cover one's meals or the cost of being fed, often in the context of supporting oneself or another person.
He started a part-time job to earn his own food expenses.
When you have more children, the cost of feeding them increases.
Standard kanji spelling.
Mixed kanji-kana spelling; common in everyday writing.
Compound of 食い (kui, 'eating', the continuative form of 食う) and 扶持 (fuchi, 'support, allowance, stipend'). The term originally referred to a stipend or allowance for food, and by extension came to mean the cost of one's board.