消耗

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 消耗 is read as しょうもう and is a noun and する verb for resources being consumed or for physical and mental energy being exhausted.
• Basic usage: Consuming fuel on a long drive appears in 燃料を消耗する, while body and mind becoming exhausted appears in 心身が消耗する.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Resources and personal energy
  • It applies both to resources whose amount decreases and to body and mind worn down by sustained work.
• Difference from 消費
  • Compared with the broad word for using goods or resources, this term more strongly suggests depletion through wear or fatigue.