Translation guide
The act of selectively removing or killing animals, plants, or items from a group, often to control population, improve quality, or eliminate the weak. This guide covers natural Japanese expressions for different contexts.
To reduce animal numbers by selective killing, often for ecological or health reasons.
General term for thinning out, used for plants and animals. Implies removing some to let the rest thrive.
鹿の間引きが行われた。
Deer culling was carried out.
Extermination or elimination of pests or harmful animals. Stronger nuance than 間引き, often for vermin.
害獣の駆除が必要だ。
Culling of harmful animals is necessary.
Culling in the sense of selective breeding or natural selection; removing inferior individuals. Often used in biological or evolutionary contexts.
自然淘汰によって弱い個体が間引かれる。
Weak individuals are culled through natural selection.
To remove some plants to improve growth of remaining ones.
The standard term for thinning seedlings or crops.
大根の間引きをした。
I thinned the radish seedlings.
Specifically thinning fruit from trees to improve size and quality of remaining fruit.
リンゴの摘果作業は大変だ。
Apple thinning is hard work.
To select and remove unwanted or inferior items from a set, such as data, photos, or objects.
Sorting and selecting, often with the nuance of discarding inferior ones. Used for quality control.
不良品を選別する。
Cull defective products.
Literally 'to sift', metaphorically to screen or weed out. Common in business or selection processes.
応募者をふるいにかける。
Screen (cull) applicants.
Used for weeding out inferior elements in a system or group, often in a competitive context.
In computing or gaming, to remove objects not visible to the camera to improve performance.
Loanword from English, commonly used in game development and 3D graphics.
オクルージョンカリングを実装する。
Implement occlusion culling.
Descriptive phrase meaning 'selective drawing', sometimes used in technical documents.
描画の取捨選択によりパフォーマンスが向上する。
Performance improves by culling (selective drawing).
間引き (mabiki) implies thinning to benefit the remaining group, often with a neutral or necessary connotation. 駆除 (kujo) is extermination of pests or harmful creatures, with a stronger negative nuance toward the target.
The English word 'culling' covers many concepts. Directly translating as カリング is only appropriate in technical computing contexts. For animals and plants, use 間引き or 駆除 depending on intent.
Uncompetitive companies are culled by the market.