# 費 — expense; cost

費 means “expense; cost”. It is a JLPT N3 kanji written with 12 strokes. On'yomi: ヒ (hi). Kun'yomi: つい(やす) (tsuiyasu). You'll see it in words such as 費やす (tsuiyasu, “to spend; to expend”).

- Meaning: expense; cost
- On'yomi: ヒ (hi)
- Kun'yomi: つい(やす) (tsuiyasu)
- Strokes: 12
- Level: JLPT N3 · set Money & trade 2

## How to remember 費

A bow (弓) and a pile of shells (貝) gone: that was the expense.

Parts: 弓 bow · 丿 slash · 丨 stick · 貝 shell; money

## Words with 費

| Word | Reading | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 費やす | ついやす (tsuiyasu) | to spend; to expend |
| 費 | ひ (hi) | cost; expense |

## Don't confuse it with

[貴](https://moji.ninja/n1-kanji/noble/) · [買](https://moji.ninja/n5-kanji/buy/) · [員](https://moji.ninja/n4-kanji/member/) · [質](https://moji.ninja/n4-kanji/quality/)

## More in the “Money & trade 2” set

[費](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/expense/) · [収](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/income/) · [額](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/sum-of-money/) · [商](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/commerce/) · [財](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/wealth/) · [値](https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/value/)

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From Moji Ninja (https://moji.ninja/), a free app for learning hiragana, katakana and the JLPT kanji from N5 to N1 with spaced repetition. Page: https://moji.ninja/n3-kanji/expense/. Last updated 2026-11-01.