How to say "wages" in Japanese
Choosing the right word
- 給料きゅうりょうnounThe everyday word for the pay an employee receives from an employer, usually a monthly salary; this is what you say when talking about your own pay in ordinary conversation.
- 賃金ちんぎんnounThe formal term for wages as the price of labor; it is the word of labor law, economics and statistics, treating wages as a subject of discussion rather than one's personal paycheck.
- 給与きゅうよnounThe formal word companies and officials use for an employee's pay as a whole, salary plus allowances; you meet it in payroll, HR and tax paperwork rather than in conversation.
- 労賃ろうちんnounA stiff, formal word for wages as payment for labor performed; it turns up mainly in legal or literary writing and is seldom the word you want in everyday talk about pay.
- 工賃こうちんnounNot the wages an employee earns, but the charge for work done — the labor cost a craftsman or contractor bills for a job; choose it only for this 'charge for labor' sense.
Use 給料 for the pay you get from a job, 賃金 for wages discussed formally as the price of labor, 給与 in payroll and tax contexts, 労賃 in stiff legal writing, and 工賃 only for charges for work done.
Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only
Japanese equivalents
See also
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