Refers to a small piece broken off from a larger object, such as a chip of wood, glass, or pottery.
ガラスの欠けが床に落ちていた。
A fragment of glass had fallen on the floor.
木の欠けで指を切ってしまった。
I cut my finger on a splinter of wood.
Used in the phrase 月の欠け (the waning moon) or in astronomical contexts. Not a common standalone word for the moon's phase in everyday conversation.
月の欠けを観察する。
Observe the waning of the moon.
欠ける is the intransitive verb meaning 'to be chipped' or 'to be missing a piece'; 欠け is the noun form derived from it.
chip; break off; be damaged · be missing; be absent; become lost · be lacking; be short of; be deficient · wane (moon); go into eclipse
waxing and waning (of the moon)
chip; missing piece; broken part · short weight; underweight · false eye
self-exile; going into hiding
pixel defect; dead pixel
pixel defect; dead pixel
Standard kanji spelling for both senses.
Kana spelling is common in everyday writing, especially when the kanji is not needed for clarity.
Rarely used kanji form.
Contains outdated kanji; not used in modern Japanese.
Noun form of the verb 欠ける (to be chipped, to be missing). The kanji 欠 is associated with 'lack' or 'gap'.