むしばむ
解説 Definition
（腐食・風化などが）徐々に侵食する；（不安・疑念などが）じわじわとむしばむ
To slowly destroy, reduce, or weaken something over time. It can be used for physical damage, like acid or rust, and also for abstract things like confidence, savings, or trust.
覚え方のコツ Memory Tip
まず eat を文字どおり「食べる」で捉えると覚えやすいです。何かが少しずつ表面や中身を食べていく感じが eat away。だから一気に壊す destroy ではなく、時間をかけてじわじわ削る・弱らせるニュアンスになります。物なら acid/rust eat away the metal、心なら guilt/fear eat away at someone が定番。特に at が付くと「人の心をむしばむ」でよく出ます。slowly, gradually と相性がよく、“少しずつ進む侵食” をセットで覚えると残りやすいです。
Keep the simple image of "eat" in your mind: something slowly being bitten away little by little. That makes "eat away" easy to remember as gradual damage, not sudden destruction. It works both for physical things like rust and for feelings like guilt that slowly weaken someone.
例文
Rust had eaten away the steel beams over the years.
長年のうちに、錆が鉄骨をむしばんでいた。
Doubt about her skills ate away at the new manager.
自分の能力への疑念が、新任マネージャーをじわじわと蝕んでいた。
eat away の類義語・関連語
紛らわしい語
eat away の語源・成り立ち Etymology
eatは古英語etanからゲルマン祖語*etanに遡り、ラテン語edere（食べる）と同根。awayは古英語onweg（道の上→離れて）。「食べて離す」→腐食・浸食の意。関連語：edible（食べられる）、erosion（浸食）。物が少しずつ削られる様子を「食べる」に喩えた表現。
Eat comes from Old English etan and goes back to an old Germanic root also seen in Latin edere. Away developed from Old English words meaning "on the way" or "off from here." Eat away first used the image of something being consumed bit by bit, and then expanded to ideas like erosion, corrosion, or gradual damage; edible is from the same ancient root as eat.
同じレベルの英単語をもっと
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