shave · reduce

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 削 has nine strokes, the on-reading さく, and the kun-reading けずる.
• Basic usage: It describes shaving material away or reducing costs and amounts.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Removing material and reducing amounts
  • 削る(けずる) can mean sharpening a pencil or cutting a project's costs. Both involve taking some of something away.
• Deletion and reduction
  • 削除(さくじょ) means removing a selected item, such as a photograph or a sentence from a manuscript.
  • 削減(さくげん) means reducing quantities such as electricity use or working time. It does not necessarily mean eliminating them entirely.