To Come To An End
To Die, To End
intransitive verb, ichidan verb
When your life has borne all its fruit, it is at last time for it to come to an end. Everyone has to die someday, but you can rest easy knowing you lived a long and fruitful existence.
果てる is used to describe something reaching its limit or completely running out such that nothing more remains, like 望みが果てる(all hope is lost) or 命が果てる (one's life comes to an end).
When combined with other verbs, it describes a state taken to its extreme, like 困り果てる (to be at a complete loss). You'll also see it in expressions like 果てしない (endless), which flips the idea — something that never reaches an end.
Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you:
As your life is about to come to an end, you stare up into the sky and yell, "Hah (は)! I showed you, universe! I took everything you threw at me and I still had an awesome life! Now I'm going to die old and happy and fulfilled and there's nothing you can do about it! Hah!"
くたびれ果てる
to be completely exhausted
あきれ果てる
to be utterly astonished (in a negative way)
〜に成り果てる
to end up as ~, to be reduced to ~
戦いで果てる
to die in battle
ここで果てる
to die here
命が果てる
one's life comes to an end
望みが果てる
hope is lost, hope is extinguished
人が果てる
a person dies
いつ果てるともしれない命なんだから、大切にしないと。
Life could end at any moment, so we have to cherish it.
こんなところで果てるワケにはいかないと思ったんです。
I must not die in a place like this, I thought.
日本のサラリーマンは、みんなくたびれ果てています。
Japanese salarymen are all exhausted beyond measure.