償う
つぐなう
to compensate, to atone
By Nihongo PathUpdated
Examples
罪を償う。
つみをつぐなう。
He atones for his crime.
損害を金で償うつもりだ。
そんがいをかねでつぐなうつもりだ。
He intends to make good the damage with money.
彼は十年かけて罪を償って社会に戻った。
かれはじゅうねんかけてつみをつぐなってしゃかいにもどった。
He spent ten years paying for his crime and returned to society.
Common patterns
- 罪を償う
- to atone for a crime
- 損害を償う
- to make good a loss
- 償いをする
- to make amends
Memory tip
償う covers both paying money back, as in 損害を償う, and working off a moral debt, as in 罪を償う. For an everyday broken item Japanese prefers 弁償する; 償う sounds weighty.
Kanji in this word
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What does 償う mean?