嵩む

• Reading: かさむ
• Romaji: kasamu
• Kanji breakdown: 嵩 (suu/kasa) — volume, bulk, pile up
• Pronunciation: /ka.sa.mɯ/

Meaning

To pile up; to mount; to increase; to accumulate (usually of expenses, costs, or burdens).

A Group 1 (godan) verb conjugated as 嵩ま-ない, 嵩み-ます. Most commonly used with expenses (費用が嵩む), debts, or workloads that grow over time. Carries a sense of unwanted, hard-to-stop accumulation. The kanji 嵩 depicts volume or bulk.

Examples

1. 治療費が嵩んで、家計がじりじりと圧迫されるようになった。 Medical expenses kept piling up, gradually squeezing the household budget.
2. 修繕工事のたびに費用が嵩み、管理組合は対応に苦慮した。 Costs mounted with every round of repairs, leaving the management association struggling to cope.
3. 複数の案件を抱えたことで残業が嵩み、体力の限界を感じた。 Taking on multiple projects caused his overtime to pile up, and he felt he was reaching his physical limit.

Usage Guide

Context: finance, daily life, business, healthcare

Tone: negative

Origin & History

From the kanji 嵩 (kasa, volume, bulk) with the intransitive verb suffix む. Originally referred to physical bulk or volume; the meaning extended to the figurative accumulation of costs and burdens.

Cultural Context

Era: Traditional–Modern

Generation: Adults

Social background: Universal