食い潰す

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 食い潰す is a godan transitive verb read くいつぶす, meaning to squander property or deplete a limited resource. Its past form is 食い潰した, and its connective form is 食い潰して.
• Basic usage: It can describe wasting an inheritance on entertainment or warn against consuming forest resources for short-term profit.
  • 彼は受け継いだ財産を遊びで食い潰した。 says that he squandered his inheritance on entertainment; 短期的な利益のために森林資源を食い潰してはいけない。 says that forest resources must not be depleted for short-term profit.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• 財産を遊びで食い潰す
  • を marks the property as what was squandered, and で marks entertainment as the activity through which it was consumed.
• 食い潰してはいけない
  • てはいけない prohibits depleting forest resources for short-term profit.
• 食い潰す and 使い果たす
  • 食い潰す strongly suggests wasteful depletion of property or resources, while 使い果たす states that something was used up completely.