1.
to shave, to plane, to whittle
To remove thin layers from a surface, especially wood.
鰹節を削って使う。
Shave dried bonito and use it.
木を削って形を作る。
Whittle wood into a shape.
かんなで板を削る。
Plane a board with a plane.
氷を削ってかき氷を作る。
Shave ice to make shaved ice.
爪を削って整える。
File and shape the nails.
2.
to sharpen (a pencil)
To make a pencil point sharp by removing wood.
鉛筆を削る。
Sharpen a pencil.
鉛筆削りで削る。
Sharpen with a pencil sharpener.
芯が丸くなったので削った。
The lead became dull, so I sharpened it.
ナイフで鉛筆を削る。
Sharpen a pencil with a knife.
色鉛筆を削った。
I sharpened the colored pencils.
3.
to cut, to reduce, to delete
To reduce or remove something, such as a budget or text.
予算を削られた。
The budget was cut.
経費を削る必要がある。
We need to cut expenses.
人件費を削られた。
Personnel costs were cut.
原稿を削って短くした。
I edited the manuscript to make it shorter.
睡眠時間を削って働く。
To work by cutting into one's sleep time.
削る means to shave, scrape, or cut away material from a surface.
TRANSITIVITY:
- Type: Transitive (他動詞)
- Pair: 削れる (intransitive - to be shaved off, to wear away)
- Pattern: Xを削る
COMMON EXPRESSIONS:
- 鉛筆を削る (to sharpen a pencil)
- 予算を削る (to cut a budget)
- 文章を削る (to cut/edit text)
- 鰹節を削る (to shave dried bonito)
- 身を削る (to work extremely hard, lit: to shave one's body)
RELATED VOCABULARY:
- 削減する (to reduce, to cut - formal)
- 彫る (to carve, to sculpt)
Related Words
Pair verb:
削れる (intransitive)