suffering the consequences of one's own actions; reaping what you sow; paying for one's mistakes
Idiomatic expression meaning that one's own misdeeds or faults come back to cause trouble, like rust (錆) emerging from within. Often used when someone faces a problem they themselves caused.
His failure is the result of his own actions.
It was his own fault, so no one sympathized with him.
Standard kanji spelling for this idiomatic expression.
Variant with サビ in katakana; sometimes used for emphasis or stylistic effect.
Literally “rust produced from the body itself,” where 身 can denote the body of a blade or other metal object. It likens self-caused trouble to rust arising from the object’s own substance.