little by little; slowly but surely
Often used for gradual recovery from illness, like peeling away thin layers of paper one by one.
My illness has been getting better little by little.
The economy is recovering slowly but surely.
Standard kanji spelling for this expression.
Kana spelling of the verb part; common in everyday writing.
Literally 'like peeling off thin paper', referring to the slow, careful process of removing one thin layer at a time.