乏 means “scarce, lacking”

とぼしい · toboshii

Also: destitution, limited

Kun'yomi (Japanese reading)

とぼしい, ともしい

On'yomi (Chinese reading)

ボウ

JLPT N1 · Taught in secondary school · 4 strokes

The story

Just four thin strokes, a kanji with very little to it: let its sparse shape stand for having little. 乏しい is scarce or lacking, as in 経験が乏しい, short on experience, and 貧乏 is plain, everyday poor: a 貧乏旅行 is a shoestring trip.

Used in 貧乏 (binbou, poor), 乏しい (toboshii, scarce/lacking), and 欠乏 (ketsubou, shortage/deficiency)

More from Plenty & Want

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

Learn 乏 and more kanji free on Fuji Learning · All kanji

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