掘ほり抜ぬく

ほ

り

ぬ

く

Meanings

1

godan verb (-ku), transitive verb

dig through; drill into; excavate

Emphasizes digging completely through something or excavating a passage, tunnel, or hole from one side to the other.

山やまを掘ほり抜ぬいてトンネルを作つくる。
They dig through the mountain to make a tunnel.
硬かたい岩がん

盤ばん

を

掘ほ

り

抜ぬ

く

の

は

大たい

変へん

だ

。

It's tough to drill through hard bedrock.

Written forms

掘ほり抜ぬくUsage83%
Standard spelling.
掘ほり抜ぬくUsage17%
Variant without okurigana り; less common but acceptable.
堀ほり抜ぬく
irregular kanji usage
Irregular kanji usage; 堀 is a ditch or canal, not the standard character for digging.

Kanji

掘dig, delve, excavate
抜slip out, extract, pull out
堀ditch, moat, canal

Similar words

掘ほる
掘る is the general verb for 'to dig'; 掘り抜く adds the nuance of digging completely through or excavating a passage.
掘ほり進すすむ
掘り進む means 'to dig forward, advance digging'; 掘り抜く focuses on breaking through to the other side.

Etymology

Compound of 掘り (continuative form of 掘る 'to dig') + 抜く ('to pull out; to do thoroughly'). The combination yields the meaning 'to dig through completely'.