費
費 — Expense
expense, cost, spend, consume, waste
On’yomiヒ (hi)
Kun’yomiついやす (tsuiyasu)
Kun’yomiついえる (tsuieru)
Stroke order (12 strokes)
Watch the strokes draw themselves in the correct order — numbers mark where each stroke starts. Diagram from KanjiVG (CC BY-SA).
Common words using 費
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 消費 | しょうひ shouhi | consumption; expenditure; spending |
| 消費者 | しょうひしゃ shouhisha | consumer (of a product, service, etc.); customer; (end) user |
| 消費税 | しょうひぜい shouhizei | consumption tax (incl. sales tax, VAT, excise duty, etc.) |
| 費用 | ひよう hiyou | cost; expense |
| 経費 | けいひ keihi | expenses; expenditure; outgoings |
| 人件費 | じんけんひ jinkenhi | personnel expenses; labor cost; labour cost |
Study notes
費 is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 12 strokes. It is taught in Japanese elementary school (grade 5), so native children learn it early — a good sign it appears everywhere. Ranked #321 of the 2,500 most frequent kanji in newspapers. On’yomi (音読み) are Chinese-derived readings mostly used in compound words; kun’yomi (訓読み) are native Japanese readings, with any highlighted part written in hiragana after the kanji (okurigana).
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