減少

• 読み: げんしょう
• ローマ字: genshou
• 漢字の分解: 減 (gen) — decrease, diminish; 少 (shō) — few, little
• 発音: /ɡeɴ.ɕoː/

意味

Decrease; reduction; decline. A quantitative drop in number, amount, or degree.

A noun that also functions as a suru verb (減少する). Used both transitively and intransitively. Appears constantly in news, statistics, and academic writing. Common patterns include 人口減少 (population decline), 大幅に減少する (to decrease significantly), and 減少傾向 (downward trend). More formal than 減る (to decrease). The opposite is 増加 (increase).

例文

1. 日本では出生率が年々減少している。
2. 交通事故の数が大幅に減少した。
3. コスト減少のために新しい方法を考えた。

使い方ガイド

場面: news, statistics, business

トーン: neutral

起源と歴史

Compound of 減 (gen, decrease/diminish) and 少 (shō, few/little). Both characters reinforce the idea of becoming less — a double emphasis on reduction.

文化的背景

時代: Modern

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal