赤字
あかじ · akaji · JLPT N1 · noun
deficit
📉 赤字 = red (赤) + entry (字); a red-ink ledger entry means you're in the red
Accountants once wrote losses in red ink, so 赤字 means spending more than you earn. Think 'red' plus 'letter/entry' on the ledger.
字 — roof 宀 + child 子
Originally depicted a child 子 under a roof 宀, suggesting birth or rearing a child in the home. The meaning later extended to 'to give birth, nurture' and then to 'written character', since characters were seen as offspring derived from earlier pictographs.