1.
qualification, certification
Official credentials showing competence in a field.
資格 covers both formal credentials (certifications, licenses) and the abstract notion of eligibility or right to do something.
COMMON PATTERNS:
- 資格を取る: to obtain a qualification/license
- 資格を持つ: to hold a qualification
- 資格がある: to be eligible, to have the right
- 資格がない: to be ineligible, to have no right
- 資格試験: certification/licensing exam
- 資格証明書: certificate of qualification
USAGE:
In sense 2 (eligibility), often used in moral or social contexts: そんなことを言う資格はない (You have no right to say that).
HOMOPHONES: