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骨肉相食む (こつにくあいはむ) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
Meanings 1
godan verb (-mu), intransitive verb
to fight among family ; to have an internecine feud
Literary and idiomatic; describes bitter conflict within a family or close-knit group, often with tragic overtones. The expression is relatively rare in everyday conversation.
食は
む
内ない
紛ふん
で
会かい
社しゃ
が
傾かたむ
い
た
。
The company was ruined by an internecine internal conflict.
Kanji 相 inter-, mutual, together Similar words 内うち 輪わ もめ More colloquial term for a family or internal quarrel, without the literary and tragic nuance of 骨肉相食む.
同どう 族ぞく 争あらそ い Refers to conflict within a clan or family, but is a noun and less idiomatic than 骨肉相食む.
Etymology The phrase is composed of 骨肉 (flesh and blood, i.e., close relatives) and 相食む (to bite each other), literally meaning 'flesh and blood devour each other.' It is a classical Chinese-derived expression (from the idiom 骨肉相食) used to describe tragic family strife.
