剰 means “excess, surplus”

じょう · jou

Also: besides

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

あまつさえ, あまり, あまる

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ジョウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 11 strokes

The story

Picture a load piled on (乗) so high that a knife (刂) has to trim off what spills over. 剰 is too much: 過剰 is excess, as in 自意識過剰, painfully self-conscious, and 余剰 is a surplus left over.

Used in 過剰 (kajou, excess), 余剰 (yojou, surplus), and 剰余金 (jouyokin, surplus funds)

More from Plenty & Want

• 乏 scarce
• 飢 starve
• 餓 starvation
• 窮 cornered
• 飽 tire of
• 倹 frugal
• 貪 greedy
• 裕 ample
• 糧 provisions

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