割り勘 (warikan)

What it means

1. 1.

   Splitting the bill evenly — total divided by heads, not by what each person ate. The default among friends and colleagues of similar rank.

   Seniority overrides it: a manager or an older participant often pays more, or all, without discussion.

Examples with translations

• 今日は割り勘でいい？

  Shall we just split it evenly today?

• 先輩が多めに払ってくれた。

  Our senior colleague covered the bigger share.

Where it comes from

割る ('to divide') plus 勘定 ('the bill'). Sometimes attributed to the Edo-period artist Sakai Hōitsu, who is said to have insisted on it; the attribution is traditional rather than documented.

Other forms

Romanised as:

warikan