Origin

The character 俸 combines a person radical on the left with the component 奉 on the right, which serves as a sound hint for the pronunciation. The character 奉 originally meant "to offer" or "to serve," and by extension came to represent offerings or payments given to someone. When paired with the person radical, the idea of an offering or payment naturally evolved into the meaning of a regular stipend or salary that a person receives, especially in historical Japanese contexts like payment to officials or retainers.