削
Mnemonic
You notice a resemblance between a rough wooden block and your friend's face. Grabbing a knife, you carefully shave off layer after layer until a perfect portrait bust emerges—your friend gasps at the uncanny resemblance as wood shavings carpet the floor.
Additional thoughts
Left side: resemblance (the likeness you're chasing). Right side: knife (the tool doing the work). Every stroke removes material, converging on the hidden form. Picture curled shavings piling up.Quick recall
Spot a resemblance in raw wood, take a knife, and shave off layers until the likeness emerges.Details
The keyword for 削 is shave off. This kanji refers to the act of paring, scraping, or cutting away thin layers from a surface, much like whittling wood or sharpening a pencil. It extends beyond physical cutting to include the figurative sense of reducing, curtailing, or trimming down, such as cutting expenses or deleting portions of a document. The core idea is the removal of material or content by gradually stripping it away.
- On'yomi
- さく
- Kun'yomi
- けず.る、はつ.る、そ.ぐ