債 means “debt, bond, loan”

さい · sai

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

サイ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 13 strokes

The story

A person (亻) carrying 責, a duty with money (貝) at its base: what you owe someone. 債 is debt and the paper that records it: 債務 is a debt, 国債 a government bond, and 負債 the liabilities on a balance sheet.

Used in 国債 (kokusai, government bond), 債務 (saimu, debt/obligation), and 負債 (fusai, liabilities)

More from Money & Markets

• 需 demand
• 購 buy
• 蓄 store up
• 卸 sell wholesale
• 幣 money
• 款 article
• 価 price
• 株 shares
• 融 melt
• 益 profit

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Readings from KANJIDIC2, © EDRDG, CC BY-SA.