姿すがたをくらます

Meanings

1

expression, godan verb (-su)

Often implies deliberately hiding one's whereabouts or making oneself scarce, sometimes to avoid trouble or responsibility.

彼かれは借しゃっ金きんを返かえせずに姿すがたをくらました。
He disappeared without paying his debts.
犯

はん

人にん

は

警けい

察さつ

の

目め

を

盗ぬす

ん

で

姿すがた

を

くらまし

た

。

The culprit vanished, evading the police.

Written forms

姿すがたをくらます
Most common spelling; uses kana for くらます to avoid rare kanji.
姿すがたを晦くらます
Uses the rare kanji 晦; mainly encountered in literary or older texts.
姿すがたを暗くらます
Uses 暗 (dark) as an ateji-like variant; very uncommon.

Kanji

姿figure, form, shape
晦dark, disappear
暗darkness, disappear, shade

Similar words

消きえる
消える is a general intransitive verb for disappearing or vanishing, while 姿をくらます specifically suggests a person deliberately hiding or absconding.
逃にげる
逃げる means to flee or escape, focusing on the act of running away; 姿をくらます emphasizes the result of becoming untraceable.

Etymology

From 姿 (figure, appearance) + を + くらます (to conceal, to make disappear). くらます is the transitive form of くらむ (to be dazzled, to be obscured), ultimately related to 暗 (darkness).