消す
けす
hepburn kesu
to turn off, to erase
Part of speech · godan-verb
Pattern visualization
no decomposition available
Examples
- 電気を消してください。Please turn off the light.
- 黒板の字を消しました。I erased the writing on the blackboard.
Collocations
消す (kesu, turn off / erase / extinguish)消える (kieru, disappear — intransitive pair)消防 (shoubou, firefighting)消しゴム (keshigomu, eraser)消費 (shouhi, consumption)
Mnemonic
消す kesu — transitive "to turn off / erase / extinguish". Pair of つける: 電気をつける ↔ 電気を消す. Intransitive partner 消える (kieru, to disappear). One verb spans (1) turning off devices, (2) erasing writing, (3) extinguishing fire — domains English splits into separate verbs. Onyomi しょう (shou): 消防 (shoubou, firefighting), 消費 (shouhi, consumption), 解消 (kaishou, dissolution). A model of how Japanese verbs collapse semantic regions that other languages split.
Quick check
One Japanese verb for "turn off (lights) / erase (writing) / extinguish (fire)"?