くらい
kurai
A loose circle instead of a dot: くらい／ぐらい
The picture Instead of marking an exact dot, you draw a loose circle around roughly where it lands. That looseness is why it works for time, for brushing something off, and for naming a bare minimum.
Where the picture shows up in くらい
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circling a time
三十分ぐらいで着きます。
san-juppun gurai de tsukimasu
I'll be there in about thirty minutes.
Same slot as ほど, but くらい is the conversational one. ぐらい is the same word with a voiced g, and it's the commoner one in speech.
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circling a size, loosely
これぐらいなら私にもできます。
kore gurai nara watashi ni mo dekimasu
Something this small I can manage myself.
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circling the bare minimum
挨拶ぐらいしてください。
aisatsu gurai shite kudasai
Forget the rest — you could at least say hello.
It scolds, so don't aim this at a superior.
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circling how far it went
声が出ないくらい叫びました。
koe ga denai kurai sakebimashita
I shouted until I'd about lost my voice.