金
かね · kane · JLPT N3 · noun
money
💰🪙 kane sounds like ka-ching, the cash register sound; okane means money
金 read alone as kane means metal or money, and with the polite o- prefix, okane is the everyday word for cash. In compounds it is usually read kin, as in 金曜日 (kin'yōbi, Friday).
金 — roof 亼 + two dots (metal nuggets) + earth 土
Originally a pictograph of metal nuggets buried in the earth beneath a covering, with the two dots representing pieces of ore. It first meant 'metal' broadly, then narrowed to 'gold' as the most precious metal, and by extension 'money'.
きん · kin · JLPT N3 · noun
money
🪙💰 Sounds like kin: gold and money passed down to your kin
Etymology: a roof shape over 土 (earth) with two dots for nuggets, so it reads as metal buried in the ground. Kin is the on-reading; the kun-reading kane means money, as in お金 okane.
金 — roof 亼 + two dots (metal nuggets) + earth 土
Originally a pictograph of metal nuggets buried in the earth beneath a covering, with the two dots representing pieces of ore. It first meant 'metal' broadly, then narrowed to 'gold' as the most precious metal, and by extension 'money'.