倒産（とうさん、tousan）
- bankruptcy

The Japanese word 倒産 （とうさん） means "bankruptcy," "insolvency," or "failure" in a business context. It refers to the state where a company or organization is unable to pay its debts and is legally declared as such. This often leads to the liquidation of assets to satisfy creditors. It signifies the end of a business's operations due to financial difficulties.

⚫︎会社が倒産しました。 Translation: The company went bankrupt. ⚫︎あの会社は経営不振で倒産しました。 Translation: That company went bankrupt due to poor management. ⚫︎倒産の手続きを開始しました。 Translation: They started bankruptcy proceedings.

倒産 is primarily used in formal or semi-formal contexts when discussing the financial status of a company or organization. It's suitable for news reports, business discussions, legal documents, and similar situations. You wouldn't typically use it in casual everyday conversation unless you were discussing a specific instance of a business failing.

倒産 is written in kanji as 倒産. The reading is とうさん in hiragana. There are no other common ways to write this word. The okurigana (送りがな) is fixed, so there are no variations.

⚫︎ 破産（はさん） - bankruptcy (more formal/legal) ⚫︎ 倒れる (taoreru) - to collapse, fail (used more broadly, not just for businesses) ⚫︎ 経営破綻（けいえいはたん） - business failure, collapse (emphasizes management failure)

⚫︎ 設立 (setsuritsu) - establishment, founding of a company ⚫︎ 成長 (seichou) - growth ⚫︎ 存続 (sonzoku) - continued existence

その会社は巨額の負債を抱え、ついに倒産］することになった。 ・Translation: That company, burdened by enormous debt, finally went bankrupt. ・Explanation: This sentence explains the reason (巨額の負債 - huge debt) for the business 倒産.

リストラとコスト削減もむなしく、その企業は倒産しました。》 ・Translation: Despite layoffs and cost-cutting measures, that company went bankrupt. ・Explanation: This sentence indicates that efforts to avoid 倒産 failed.

The word 倒産 is a compound word: 倒 (tou) means "to fall" or "to collapse," and 産 (san) means "property" or "assets". Combined, it literally means "to collapse assets" or "to have one's assets collapse," which accurately reflects the meaning of bankruptcy.