腐ります（くさります、kusarimasu）
- to rot

The Japanese verb 腐ります means to decay, rot, or spoil. It describes the process of organic matter breaking down and becoming unusable or undesirable due to the action of bacteria, fungi, or other microorganisms. This process often involves a change in smell, texture, and appearance. The meaning also includes metaphorical uses, such as a situation or relationship 腐ります or deteriorating.

⚫︎食べ物が腐りました。 Translation: The food has spoiled. ⚫︎このリンゴはもう腐っています。 Translation: This apple is already rotten. ⚫︎人間関係が腐り始めた。 Translation: The relationship started to deteriorate.

⚫︎腐ります is used to describe the state of something becoming rotten or decaying. ⚫︎It can be used to describe food, plants, objects made of organic materials, or, metaphorically, social situations or relationships. ⚫︎Use this verb when you want to express that something has spoiled or is no longer fresh or usable. ⚫︎The verb conjugates, so you will see 腐る, 腐った, 腐らない, 腐ります, 腐りました etc.

⚫︎The verb 腐ります is typically written in kanji as 腐ります. ⚫︎The reading is くさります in hiragana. ⚫︎The okurigana (the suffix hiragana) is always ります in the polite form. ⚫︎The stem 腐 can also be combined with other grammatical particles to form different verb forms such as 腐る, 腐った, 腐らない.

⚫︎傷む (いたむ) - to spoil, to go bad (mostly for food) ⚫︎朽ちる (くちる) - to rot away, decay (often used for wood or other organic materials) ⚫︎痛む (いたむ) - to spoil, to go bad (mostly for food)

⚫︎There is no direct single antonym for 腐ります. However, words that express freshness or preservation could be considered opposite: ⚫︎新鮮 (しんせん) - fresh ⚫︎保存する (ほぞんする) - to preserve ⚫︎長持ちする (ながもちする) - to last a long time, to keep fresh

冷蔵庫に入れないと、牛乳が腐りますよ。 ・Translation: If you don't put it in the refrigerator, the milk will spoil. ・Explanation: This sentence explains that milk will 腐り if it's not refrigerated.

庭に落ちた果物はすぐに腐ってしまう。 ・Translation: The fruits that fell in the garden will spoil quickly. ・Explanation: This sentence describes the rapid spoilage of fruits that have fallen in the garden.

The kanji 腐 is composed of the radical 广 (gaan), meaning "a house" or "shelter", and the phonetic 付 (fu) which gives a clue to the pronunciation. It combines meanings related to decay, putrefaction, and corruption. The word itself has been used in the Japanese language for a long time, with its roots tracing back to the ancient Japanese vocabulary, reflecting early experiences with the spoilage of food and other organic materials.