消息

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 消息 (しょうそく) is a noun for news or the whereabouts of a person or object that has been out of contact.
• Basic usage: It appears when long-awaited news is learned or in 消息を絶つ for all trace or contact being lost.
  • 長く連絡のなかった友人の消息がようやく分かった。 — I finally heard news of a friend who had been out of contact for a long time.
  • 嵐の後、その船は消息を絶った。 — The ship went missing after the storm.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• News and the act of contacting
  • 連絡 can name an act or message of contact, while 消息 is known information about someone's or something's present state or whereabouts. 消息を絶つ means to lose all trace.