The kanji 俸（ほう） primarily means "salary," "stipend," or "pay" – especially the payment given to government officials or those in positions of service. It implies a regular payment, often in the form of rice or other goods in historical contexts, and later as money. The character conveys the concept of compensation for work or services rendered.

・On-yomi (音読み): ホウ (hō) ・Kun-yomi (訓読み): None, or not commonly used.

⚫︎俸給（ほうきゅう） Translation: Salary; pay ⚫︎俸禄（ほうろく） Translation: Official salary; stipend ⚫︎年俸（ねんぽう） Translation: Annual salary

The kanji 俸 (ほう) is a phono-semantic compound (形声文字, keisei moji). It combines the phonetic component 奉 (hō, meaning "to offer" or "to present") with the semantic component 人 (person) or 亻 (person radical, similar to 人). However, the semantic component that acts as radical is 人. The original meaning of the character reflects the idea of offering or presenting something (like rice or goods, implied by 奉) to a person 人 as payment for their service. The character evolved over time, becoming standardized in its current form to represent the concept of salary. The right side of the kanji character is the phonetic component, suggesting the pronunciation of the kanji.