消耗
しょうもう · shoumou · JLPT N2 · noun
consumption
🔋 消 (melt away) + 耗 (use up): what melts away and gets used up is exhaustion
消 means dissolve or wear away, and 耗 means deplete or use up. Together they describe energy draining away, so 消耗 covers both exhaustion and consumption of resources.
消 — water 氵 + 肖 (phonetic)
消 is a semantic-phonetic compound: the water radical 氵 indicates the meaning, while 肖 (xiào) supplies the sound. It originally described water dwindling or melting away, and from there extended to the modern senses of vanishing, dissolving, and dispelling.
耗 — 耒 plow + 毛 hair/fur
Originally written with 耒 (plow) as the semantic component and 毛 (hair) as the phonetic, suggesting the wearing down or consumption of farming tools through use. The meaning extended from depleting resources to the broader senses of 'consume,' 'waste,' and 'news/tidings' (as in 噩耗).