萎む

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 萎む is an intransitive godan verb read しぼむ, describing a flower wilting or an inflated object shrinking as air escapes.
• Basic usage: The changing thing is the subject in patterns such as 花が萎む and 風船が萎む; context selects the sense of wilting or deflating.
  • 水をやらないと、この花はすぐに萎んでしまいます。 says that the flower will soon wilt if it is not watered; 空気が抜けるにつれて風船がゆっくり萎みました。 describes the balloon slowly deflating as air escaped.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• 萎んでしまう
  • てしまう presents the change as completed and can convey that the result is regrettable or undesirable.
• 抜けるにつれて
  • につれて shows the loss of air and the balloon's shrinking progressing together.
• The two contexts of 萎む
  • With a flower it naturally means wilt; with an inflated object such as a balloon it means shrink or deflate.