水増し

• Reading: みずまし
• Romaji: mizumashi
• Kanji breakdown: 水 (sui/mizu) — water; 増 (zō/ma) — increase, add
• Pronunciation: /mi.zɯ.ma.ɕi/

Meaning

Padding; inflating; watering down. The act of artificially increasing numbers, quantities, or content beyond what is genuine.

A versatile term for any kind of fraudulent or dishonest inflation. 水増し請求 (inflated billing) is the most common business usage — submitting invoices that overstate actual costs. Also used for inflating reported sales figures, padding budgets, diluting products with water, or bulking out written content with filler. The metaphor comes from the literal act of adding water to a liquid to increase its apparent volume.

Examples

1. 下請け業者が工事費を水増しして請求していたことが判明した。 It emerged that a subcontractor had been submitting inflated invoices for construction work.
2. 売上数字を水増しして投資家に報告した疑いがある。 There is suspicion that sales figures were padded when reporting to investors.
3. 報告書の内容を水増しするのは信頼を損なう行為だ。 Padding a report with filler content is an act that undermines trust.

Usage Guide

Context: fraud, accounting, business, legal

Tone: neutral

Origin & History

From 水 (water) + 増し (increase; from 増す 'to increase'). The image is of adding water to a liquid to make it appear more voluminous — a metaphor extended to any dishonest inflation of quantities or figures.

Cultural Context

Era: Modern

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal