割(さ)く

さく
verb (godan, transitive)
to spare, to devote (time/effort); to tear apart
他動詞 transitiveaction
See also: 裂(さ)く (tear, rip)
Conjugation
AffirmativeNegative
Present割(さ)く割(さ)かない
Present polite割(さ)きます割(さ)きません
Past割(さ)いた割(さ)かなかった
Past polite割(さ)きました割(さ)きませんでした
て form割(さ)いて割(さ)かなくて
ている present割(さ)いている割(さ)いていない
ている polite割(さ)いています割(さ)いていません
ている past割(さ)いていた割(さ)いていなかった
ている past polite割(さ)いていました割(さ)いていませんでした
Conditional ば割(さ)けば割(さ)かなければ
Conditional たら割(さ)いたら割(さ)かなかったら
Volitional割(さ)こう—
Volitional polite割(さ)きましょう—
Potential割(さ)ける割(さ)けない
Passive割(さ)かれる割(さ)かれない
Causative割(さ)かせる割(さ)かせない
Imperative割(さ)け割(さ)くな
1. to spare, to devote, to set aside
To allocate or devote time, effort, resources, or space for a particular purpose. Often implies carving out something from a limited supply.
時間(じかん)を割(さ)いてくれた。
They spared time for me.
研究(けんきゅう)に多(おお)くの予算(よさん)を割(さ)いた。
We devoted a large portion of the budget to research.
Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule.
2. to tear, to rip apart
To tear or split something apart by pulling. A physical sense that is less common in modern everyday usage but appears in literary contexts.
布(ぬの)を手(て)で割(さ)いた。
I tore the cloth apart by hand.
You cannot tear those two apart.
I pushed through the crowd and moved forward.

Godan verb (く row: 割(さ)く → 割(さ)かない → 割(さ)いて). Not to be confused with the homophone 裂(さ)く, which focuses on tearing/splitting and is written with a different kanji.

Sense 1 is much more common in modern usage. The pattern ~を割(さ)く is typically used with 時間(じかん), 人手(ひとで), 予算(よさん), or 紙面(しめん) (page space).

Common collocations