かく (はじを)

かく (はじを) · kaku (hajiwo) · JLPT N1 · noun

to humiliate oneself

かく (掻く) = to scratch; 恥を掻く = to scrape up shame, to be humiliated, as if you dig embarrassment out of yourself

はじ (恥) is shame and を marks it as the object of かく. Literally you 'scratch/draw up' shame, so the idiom means to humiliate oneself.

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