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道Nihongo Path

Word 2308 of 2920

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彫る

ほる

to carve, to engrave, to sculpt, to chisel

By Nihongo PathUpdated

Examples

  1. 木で人形を彫る。

    きでにんぎょうをほる。

    To carve a doll out of wood.

  2. 祖父は私に木の人形を彫ってくれた。

    そふはわたしにきのにんぎょうをほってくれた。

    My grandfather carved me a wooden doll.

  3. 石に名前を彫るのに何日もかかった。

    いしになまえをほるのになんにちもかかった。

    It took days to engrave the name into the stone.

Common patterns

仏像を彫る
to carve a Buddhist statue
名前を彫る
to engrave a name
彫りが深い
to have sharply defined features

Memory tip

Same sound as 掘る (to dig), and the ideas are close — one cuts into wood or stone, the other into the ground. 彫 carries the 彡 'decoration' strokes, so think of decorative cutting.

Kanji in this word

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What does 彫る mean?