消費

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 消費 is a noun and irregular transitive verb read しょうひ, meaning the consumption or expenditure of a resource, energy, or physical strength.
• Basic usage: Use 消費を抑える for limiting the amount consumed and 体力を消費する for expending stamina.
  • 使っていない照明を消して、電力の消費を抑えました。 describes turning off unused lights to reduce electricity consumption; 長い坂道を登ると、予想以上に体力を消費しました。 describes using more stamina than expected while climbing a long slope.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• 消費を抑える
  • を抑える means lowering or limiting consumption, not necessarily eliminating it.
• 体力を消費する
  • を marks the resource, physical strength, that is used up.
• 消費 and 使用
  • 使用 focuses on the act of using something, while 消費 emphasizes the reduction of a resource or quantity through use.