ichidan verb, intransitive verb
break; snap; be cut; burst or give way
Intransitive physical separation or rupture: a string snaps, something is cut through, a surface splits, or a bank, dam, or similar structure gives way.
強く引っぱったら、ひもが切れた。
When I pulled hard, the string snapped.
大雨で堤防が
The embankment gave way in the heavy rain.
ichidan verb, intransitive verb
be cut; be injured
Used when skin, lips, or another body part is cut or split open; the injured body part is normally the subject.
転んだ拍子に唇が切れた。
When I fell, my lip got cut.
ichidan verb, intransitive verb
wear out; be worn through
Describes cloth, shoes, paper, or similar materials becoming worn through, frayed, or torn from use.
長く履いた靴下のかかとが切れてきた。
The heels of the socks I had worn for a long time started to wear through.
ichidan verb, intransitive verb
wear off; stop working; go dead
Used when an effect, power supply, signal, or mechanism ceases: medicine wears off, a battery dies, or a device stops functioning.
夕方には薬の効果が切れてきた。
By evening, the medicine's effect had begun to wear off.
途中でスマホの電池が切れた。
My phone battery died on the way.
ichidan verb, intransitive verb
Used for time limits, validity periods, contracts, tickets, payment deadlines, and similar limits reaching their end.
パスポートの有効期限が去年切れた。
My passport expired last year.
支払い期限が切れる前に振り込んでください。
Please make the transfer before the payment deadline passes.
ichidan verb, intransitive verb
run out; be used up; be sold out
Used when supplies, stock, ingredients, money, patience, or similar resources are exhausted; 在庫が切れる is the standard stock phrase.
牛乳が切れたので、帰りに買ってきます。
We've run out of milk, so I'll buy some on the way home.
その商品は午前中に在庫が切れた。
That item ran out of stock in the morning.
ichidan verb, intransitive verb
be cut off; be disconnected; break off ties
Covers both literal disconnection, such as a phone call being cut off, and figurative severing of relationships or ties, as in 縁が切れる.
トンネルに入ったら電話が切れた。
The phone call got disconnected when we entered the tunnel.
その事件のあと、彼とは縁が切れた。
After that incident, my ties with him were severed.
ichidan verb, intransitive verb
cut well; be sharp
Said of knives, scissors, blades, and similar tools whose edge cuts effectively; often appears as よく切れる.
この包丁はよく切れる。
This kitchen knife cuts well.
ichidan verb, intransitive verb
be sharp-minded; be quick-witted; be able
Figurative use for a person who thinks quickly and acts shrewdly; common in the phrase 頭が切れる.
彼女は頭が切れるので、交渉を任された。
She is sharp-minded, so she was put in charge of the negotiations.
ichidan verb, intransitive verb
fall below; be short of; beat a time
Used with a numerical benchmark, especially in potential-like contexts meaning to get below a figure or beat a target time; the benchmark may be marked with を.
このペースなら、フルマラソンで三時間を切れるかもしれない。
At this pace, I may be able to break three hours in the full marathon.
ichidan verb, intransitive verb
dry off; drain off
Often used as 水気が切れる, meaning that excess water drains away or a surface becomes free of moisture.
野菜をざるに上げて、水気が切れるまで待つ。
Put the vegetables in a colander and wait until the water drains off.
ichidan verb, intransitive verb
curve; veer
Used for a ball, vehicle path, or similar motion curving away to one side; common in sports descriptions.
打球は右に切れて、ファウルになった。
The batted ball curved to the right and went foul.
ichidan verb, intransitive verb
get angry; snap; lose one's temper
Colloquial use, often written キレる, for suddenly losing one's temper or exploding in anger.
See also: キレる
何度も同じことを言われて、彼は急にキレた。
After being told the same thing over and over, he suddenly snapped.
auxiliary verb, ichidan verb
be able to do completely
Auxiliary verb after the masu-stem of another verb, usually written in kana. It means to be able to finish something completely or carry it through to the end.
この量なら一人で食べきれる。
If it's this amount, I can finish eating it by myself.
難しくて、最後まで読みきれなかった。
It was difficult, and I couldn't read it through to the end.
ichidan verb, intransitive verb
shuffle cards
Limited use with cards, especially トランプ. In ordinary modern wording it often appears in ability-style sentences such as トランプが切れる or トランプを切れる.
まだ片手ではトランプがうまく切れない。
I still can't shuffle cards well with one hand.