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鏤骨 (るこつ) Japanese meaning | Kotomora

鏤る骨こつ

る

こ

つ

Meanings

1

noun

painstaking effort; meticulous work

Literary or formal term for extremely careful, labor-intensive effort, often implying carving or detailed craftsmanship. Rare in everyday speech.

この細さい工くはまさに鏤る骨こつの作さくだ。
This craftsmanship is truly a work of painstaking effort.

Kanji

鏤inlay, set, mount
骨skeleton, bone, remains

Similar words

丹たん精せい
丹精 also means painstaking effort or careful work, but is more common and less literary than 鏤骨.
苦く心しん
苦心 refers to hard work and trouble taken, but lacks the nuance of meticulous carving or inlaying implied by 鏤骨.

Etymology

Compound of 鏤 (ru, 'to carve, inlay') and 骨 (kotsu, 'bone'), literally 'carving bone', metaphorically extended to mean extremely painstaking effort. The exact historical derivation is uncertain.