What are the differences between 賠 and 償?

Question

I am learning kanji with Heisig's method, and I have seen that 賠 and 償 means the same (compensation, indemnify), so I have been searching for examples in 'Yomiwa' and 'jisho.org' trying to clear my doubts. However, I couldn't find any answer of how difference those kanjis and how or when to use them. Thanks!!

I didn't have time to talk before, so okey. The trick is that I have usually watched them together, but in certain cases the aren't.For example:

賠償金, which means: indemnities; or 賠償 that means compensation (both words seems to means the same, okey) Then, as 'agijonazo' said, 賠 is used in abbreviations so okey, i didn't spot that, thanks.

The other case is when 償 is alone as 償還 (amortization) or here: 償却 (repayment, but also can means amortization)

How do I know when to use them both together or just one alone? Also, the translations seems to be similar (when one or both kanjis are in a sentence), are there sinonymous or just have a little different in japanese context? e.g: 償却, 償還, 償い, 賠償, 賠償金 have equals meaning.

Sorry if I am not clear enough and thank so much all you

PD: I have read naruto's post but don't understand how that is apply here

Answer 1

As a standalone word, 償 is used to write a Japanese word つぐなう (償う) that means "pay for (a crime or damage)". 賠 could also be read つぐなう, but virtually unused outside reading Classical Chinese books (kanbun kundoku).

As a part of Sino-Japanese compounds, 賠【ばい】 and 償【しょう】 have different connotations. 賠 means "pay money for damage or harm", while 償 is "give something (beneficial) in return to something done (good or bad)". It would be useful to know when you end up with coining a new word, which would be extremely rare though.

Answer 2

I'll attempt to answer the question, but your confusion over the meaning is due to a general misconception you seem to have about how Kanji work.

You may have noticed that 償 has a Kun and an On reading, whereas 賠 only has an On reading. 償 can be part of a word, for example 償還【しょうかん】 where you would use the On reading. It can also be used by itself as the verb 償【つぐな】う = to make up. In contrast, 賠 is never used by itself and must always be used with another Kanji. Kanji that don't appear by themselves are hard to define in a dictionary and they typically take on the meaning of the words they're most commonly associated with. Since 賠 is most commonly written in the word 賠償【ばいしょう】= compensation, 賠 is defined as also meaning compensation.

Your question about when to use which of the two is missing the point: Knowing the meaning of Kanji doesn't tell you anything about how to use them and which words you can write with them. Also, knowing all the pronounciations of a Kanji doesn't tell you how to pronounce it in a given word. You'll simply have to learn the meaning of japanese words, memorize how they are written and also memorize how they are read.