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乏

Scarce
Stroke count: 4

Readings

On readingボウ
Kun readingとぼ.しい
  1. meagre
  2. meager
  3. limited
  4. destitute

Popular Usage

窮乏欠乏

Radicals and components

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Components
How it's built
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Mnemonic (RtK)

ⓘ

drop (丶) · of · Zorro · building blocks · zig-zag

From "Remembering the Kanji" by James Heisig · Frame 1300

Compound words

彼は貧乏の味を知らない。
He does not know what it is to be poor.tatoeba
彼は貧乏の味がどんなものであるか、よくわかっている。
He knows quite well what it is like to be poor.tatoeba

Real voices: how native speakers say it

These sentences were read aloud by real people — native Japanese speakers — for the open Mozilla Common Voice project. Listen to how a phrase sounds in real speech: the intonation, the pace, the way words run together. Two speakers mean two different people read it — compare them.

貧乏に耐えて勉学に励むこと。
びんぼうにたえてべんがくにはげむこと。Enduring poverty while studying hard.
現実性に乏しい考えや理論。また、根拠がなくありもしないこと。
げんじつせいにとぼしいかんがえやりろん。また、こんきょがなくありもしないこと。Thoughts or theories lacking in reality, or ideas without basis that don't exist.
衰えて生気がないさま。また、意欲に乏しいさま。無為自然の境地にあること。
おとろえてせいきがないさま。また、いよくにとぼしいさま。むいしぜんのきょうちにあること。Weakened and lacking vitality. Also, having little ambition. Being in a state of effortless natural way.

Recordings and sentences: Mozilla Common Voice, CC0

Stroke Order

4 strokes

Scarce. 正 (correct) turned around — something is missing. 貧乏 — poverty.

Practice Writing

Practice Writing 乏

Draw with a guide, then from memory — checked at every step