1.
-fold, times
Used as a suffix to indicate multiplication.
給料が二倍になった。
My salary doubled.
三倍の大きさになった。
It became three times the size.
十倍の努力をしなければならない。
I have to put in ten times the effort.
人口が五倍に増えて、交通が混むようになった。
The population increased fivefold, and traffic became congested.
都市の物価は田舎の何倍も高いので、生活するのが大変だと言われている。
City prices are many times higher than in the countryside, so it's said that living there is tough.
倍 is a suffix meaning "times" or "-fold" used to express multiplication.
COMMON EXPRESSIONS:
- 二倍: double, twice
- 三倍: triple, three times
- 何倍: how many times?
- 〜倍になる: to become ~ times (larger/more)
- 〜倍にする: to make ~ times (larger/more)
PRONUNCIATION NOTES:
With numbers, 倍 often becomes ばい: 一倍, 二倍, 三倍.
CONTRAST:
- 倍: multiplicative (2倍 = ×2)
- 分の: fractional (2分の1 = 1/2)
- パーセント: percentage