僅 means “only, slight, a mere”

わずか · wazuka

Also: a wee bit

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

わずか

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

キン, ゴン

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 12 strokes

The story

A person (亻) beside 堇, the same piece as in 飢饉, famine: picture someone scraping by on almost nothing. 僅か is "only, a mere", often written わずか, and 僅差 is a narrow margin, as in a race or election won by a hair.

Used in 僅か (wazuka, only/a mere), 僅差 (kinsa, narrow margin), and 僅少 (kinshou, very little)

More from Formal Words

• 及 reach
• 故 cause
• 為 do
• 致 bring about
• 是 right
• 須 must
• 殊 especially
• 尚 still
• 那 that
• 該 the said
• 弥 more and more
• 如 like

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