1.
dirt; grime; body grime; dead skin
Accumulated dirt or dead skin on the body, or built-up grime on surfaces.
2.
worldly desires; spiritual impurity
In Buddhist-influenced usage, refers to spiritual defilement or worldly attachments that cloud the mind.
Refers primarily to the grime or dead skin that accumulates on the body, and by extension to built-up dirt on surfaces. The figurative sense of spiritual or moral impurity is common in literary and Buddhist contexts.
Common collocations
- 垢を落とす — to scrub off grime
- 垢がたまる — grime builds up
- 垢にまみれる — to be covered in grime/corruption
- 垢抜ける — to become refined, sophisticated (lit. to shed one's grime)