丸める

まるめる · marumeru · JLPT N1 · verb-ichidan

to make round

🍥 丸 (maru) = round circle; 丸める = to make something round, like rolling dough into a ball

丸 means round or circle, and the verb ending -める makes it an action: to round something off or roll it up. Think of rolling dough or paper into a ball.

丸 — 九 nine + dot 丶
Originally a pictograph showing a small round object or pellet, depicting something that can be rolled. The modern form resembles 九 with a dot, but historically it derives from 仄 inverted, suggesting something tipping or rolling. It came to mean 'round ball,' 'pellet,' or 'pill.'

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