音読み: フツ
訓読み: はらう
画数: 5
部首: てへん（手）
Meaning
Pay / Clear Away
- Basic forms
- 払う — pay; brush away / base form
- 払います — pays / masu form
- 払った — paid; brushed away / ta form
- 払って — paying … / te form
- 払わない — do not pay / negative
- 払えば — if (one) pays / conditional
- Common expressions
- お金を払う — pay money
- 料金を払う — pay a fee
- 注意を払う — pay attention
- 借金を払う — pay off a debt
- More
- 払っている — is paying / state
払う（はらう） is a godan transitive verb. Its core meaning is “to clear away,” which extends naturally to paying money, settling debts, and directing attention.
- 払う — to pay; to brush off; to clear away
- 支払 — payment (formal)
- 支払う — to pay
- 払い戻し — refund; reimbursement
- 払底 — running short; being out of stock
- 払拭 — wiping out; sweeping away (doubts, fears, etc.)
With the hand radical 手 on the left, 払 shows a quick motion of the hand sweeping something away. From brushing off dust, it came to mean clearing away debts or obligations — that’s why it appears in words for paying money.