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滅却 (めっきゃく) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
Freq. Frequency Top 100,000 Conjugation Meanings 1
noun, noun or participle which takes 'suru', transitive verb, intransitive verb
extinguishment ; destruction ; effacement
Formal or literary term for completely wiping out, annihilating, or erasing something, often used in abstract or spiritual contexts (e.g., extinguishing desires, destroying evil).
たたか
い
で
敵てき
軍ぐん
は
完かん
全ぜん
に
滅めっ
却きゃく
さ
れ
た
。
The enemy forces were completely annihilated in that battle.
Written forms 滅めっ 却きゃく Usage 96%
Standard kanji spelling for this word.
めっきゃく Usage 4%
Kanji 滅 destroy, ruin, overthrow 却 instead, on the contrary, rather Similar words 消しょう 滅めつ 消滅 is a more common word for disappearance or extinction, while 滅却 implies a deliberate act of wiping out or erasing, often with a formal or literary tone.
撲ぼく 滅めつ 撲滅 is used for eradicating pests, diseases, or social evils through active measures, whereas 滅却 is more abstract and can refer to spiritual or complete annihilation.
Etymology Compound of 滅 (めつ, 'destroy') and 却 (きゃく, 'remove, eliminate'), with the reading めっきゃく resulting from a sound change (促音便). The word is used in Buddhist contexts for extinguishing worldly desires and in formal writing for complete destruction.