Japanese symbol for “meagre”
乏しい
とぼしい
Romaji: toboshii
meagre; meager; scarce; limited
In Japanese, meagre is 乏しい, read とぼしい (toboshii).
Before using these characters for a tattoo, check them with a native speaker. Dictionary words often have several meanings, and the right choice depends on context.
Meanings
- adj-i meagre; meager; scarce; limited; destitute; hard up
Written forms: 乏しい. Readings: とぼしい、ともしい.
Kanji and stroke order
Other Japanese words for “meagre”
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 貧弱 | ひんじゃく hinjaku | poor; meagre; meager |
| 細やか | ささやか sasayaka | small; little; tiny |
| 僅か | わずか wazuka | a little; a few; small |
| 貧相 | ひんそう hinsou | scrawny (e.g. figure); thin-looking; sparse (e.g. meal) |
| 微か | かすか kasuka | poor; wretched; meagre |
Related words
Words that share a kanji.
| Word | Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 貧乏 | びんぼう binbou | poverty-stricken; destitute; poor |
| 欠乏 | けつぼう ketsubou | deficiency; insufficiency; shortage |
| 窮乏 | きゅうぼう kyuubou | poverty; destitution; privation |
| 貧乏人 | びんぼうにん binbounin | poor person; the poor |
| 貧乏神 | びんぼうがみ binbougami | god of poverty |
Data: JMdict (CC BY-SA 4.0); KANJIDIC2 (CC BY-SA 4.0); KanjiVG (CC BY-SA 3.0); wordfreq (CC BY-SA 4.0 (data)). Retrieved 2026-10-22.