How to say "provider" in Japanese

• 提供者ていきょうしゃCommon
  nounThe literal term for a person or body that provides or supplies something; it also covers 'donor' and 'contributor'. Choose it when 'provider' means a supplier of goods, services, or funds, not a family breadwinner.
• 大黒柱だいこくばしらCommon
  nounThe figurative 'provider': the backbone of a family — the breadwinner who supports the household — or a mainstay of the economy. It does not mean a supplier of goods or services; use 提供者 for that.

Use 提供者 for the literal sense of provider — a person or organization that supplies goods, services, or funds — and 大黒柱 only for the figurative provider who supports a family as its breadwinner or backbone.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 提供者ていきょうしゃdonor
• 納入業者のうにゅうぎょうしゃsupplier
• 稼ぎ主かせぎぬしbreadwinner
• 納入者のうにゅうしゃsupplier
• 提供元ていきょうもとoriginal source
• 大黒柱だいこくばしらmainstay (e.g. of an economy)