萎

to wither; weaken

Kanji 1956

Learn to talk about withering and atrophy, as in "Flowers wither when exposed to frost," "The flowers wilted in the summer heat," "Old vegetables wilt and cannot be sold," and "Unused muscles will atrophy." On the figurative side, find out how to say, "I shrink in her presence," "I lost my motivation to work," and "Losing signal from the spacecraft dampened hopes for a moon landing." 

Revision history:

Aug. 23, 2024: p. 2: Deleted the sample sentence about frost because it's unnatural to use the keyword 萎縮 there. 

Aug. 30, 2023: Originally published.