虫食い

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 虫食い is read as むしくい and is a noun for insect damage or, figuratively, a record with sections missing here and there.
• Basic usage: Damage to clothing appears in 着物の虫食い, while incomplete records appear in 記録が虫食いの状態だ.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Literal and figurative damage
  • It can describe actual holes eaten in cloth or figurative gaps scattered through a record.
• Different from total loss
  • It emphasizes missing portions among what remains, rather than the complete disappearance of the whole.