親おやのすねかじり

Meanings

sponging off one's parents; living off one's parents

Idiomatic expression describing an adult who relies on their parents for financial support without contributing, often with a negative connotation.

彼かれは三さん十じゅっ歳さいになっても親おやのすねかじりをしている。
He is still sponging off his parents even though he's thirty.
親おやのすねかじりから卒そつ業ぎょうしたい。
I want to stop living off my parents.

See all 3 example sentences ›

Kanji

親parent, intimacy, relative
臑leg, shin
噛chew, bite, gnaw

Related words

パラサイトシングル
A more modern, sociological term for an unmarried adult who lives with and depends on their parents, often without the same idiomatic bite as 親のすねかじり.
ニート
Refers to someone not in education, employment, or training; may overlap with 親のすねかじり but focuses on work/study status rather than the act of depending on parents.

Written forms

親おやのすねかじり
Standard kana-mixed spelling; the most common written form.
親おやの臑すね噛かじり
Kanji spelling using 臑 (shin) and 噛り (biting); rarely used and may be unfamiliar to many readers.

Etymology

Literally 'gnawing at one's parent's shin'; the image is of a child clinging to and biting a parent's leg, metaphorically living off them. The exact origin is uncertain, but it is a well-established idiom.