擦り減る

• 読み: すりへる
• ローマ字: suriheru
• 漢字の分解: 擦 (suri) — to rub, chafe; 減 (he) — to decrease, diminish
• 発音: /sɯ.ɾi.he.ɾɯ/

意味

To wear down; to be worn away; to be eroded. To become thinner or smaller through sustained friction or use.

A Group 1 (godan) intransitive compound verb combining 擦る (to rub, chafe) and 減る (to decrease, diminish). 擦り減る describes physical wear — shoe soles wearing thin (靴底が擦り減る), a pencil wearing down — and figurative exhaustion: 神経が擦り減る (nerves wearing thin, becoming frayed from stress). The figurative use is common in describing emotional fatigue or the gradual erosion of patience and resilience.

例文

1. 長年履いた登山靴の底が擦り減り、雨の日に滑るようになってしまった。
2. 理不尽な要求に毎日対応していると、精神がじわじわと擦り減っていく感覚がある。
3. 交渉が長引くにつれて双方の忍耐が擦り減り、合意が遠のいていった。

使い方ガイド

場面: physical wear, mental fatigue, negotiations, daily life

トーン: neutral to weary

起源と歴史

Compound of 擦る (su-ru — to rub, chafe) and 減る (he-ru — to decrease, diminish). Both verbs are native Japanese. The combination precisely captures the idea of material being progressively removed through friction, later applied to psychological attrition.

文化的背景

時代: Traditional-Modern

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal