To Save
To Save Up, To Set Aside
transitive verb, ichidan verb
Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means savings, so the verb vocab version would become to save or to save up.
貯える means to set something aside for future needs or emergencies, like saving money or storing water.
This shares a reading with 蓄える, which makes sense, as the meanings of them are very close to each other! If you’re not sure you remember the reading, here’s the mnemonic once more to help you remember it:
You need to save up things, so you take one (たくわ) and put it aside, then take one more and put it aside again. Repeat this process of taking one over and over and you’ll quickly save up lots of things.
大きなビジネスを始める前に、元手を貯える必要がある。
We need to save up some funds before we can start a big business.