減らす

• Reading: へらす
• Romaji: herasu
• Kanji breakdown: 減 (gen/he) — decrease, reduce, diminish
• Pronunciation: /he.ɾa.sɯ/

Meaning

To reduce; to decrease; to cut down. Deliberately making something smaller in quantity.

A Group 1 (godan) transitive verb conjugating with the す row. Pairs with the intransitive 減る (heru). Used when someone actively reduces something: 体重を減らす (lose weight), ごみを減らす (reduce waste), 出費を減らす (cut expenses).

Examples

1. 砂糖の量を減らしたほうが健康にいい。 It's better for your health to reduce the amount of sugar.
2. 会社は経費を減らす努力をしている。 The company is making efforts to cut expenses.
3. なるべく出費を減らしていきたい。 I want to cut down on spending as much as possible.

Usage Guide

Context: health, environment, business

Tone: neutral

Origin & History

The transitive counterpart of 減る. The す ending marks it as a causative-type godan verb, indicating deliberate action to cause a decrease.

Cultural Context

Era: Classical

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal