Take the 2-minute tour ×  赤字 and 黒字 seem to correspond directly
to the English expressions 'red ink' and 'black ink', meaning a
(financial) deficit/loss and surplus, respectively. If
Wiktionary is to be trusted, Mandarin, Cantonese and Korean use
赤字 in the same way. Furthermore, French has the expression être
dans le rouge ('to be in the red').  Etymonline lists the first
recorded instance of 'red ink' in English as being from 1929,
and 語源由来辞典 asserts that 赤字 and 黒字 spread in Japanese during the
大正時代 (1912-1926) to the start of 昭和時代 (1926-1989).  How did 赤字
and 黒字 come to be used in Japanese? Are the terms borrowed from
a European language (or vice versa), or did the practice of
using red ink for losses and black ink for profits arise
independently?  share|improve this question Maybe due to the
massive losses from the US 1929 stock market crash, and the
storied "stockbrokers jumping out of windows"? –  user3169 Apr 7
'13 at 1:50 Maybe :) I don't have access to the Oxford English
Dictionary at present, but the