To Extinguish Something
To Erase Something, To Turn Something Off
transitive verb, godan verb
This word consists of kanji with hiragana attached. Because the hiragana ends with an う sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means extinguish so the verb vocab version is to extinguish something. You can also use this word to say to erase something, like data, and to turn something off, like the lights or the power. Technically you're extinguishing the data, as well as the lights or power, right?
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:
You have to extinguish the fire! The kettle (け) got too hot, and it caught on fire.
火を消す
to extinguish a fire
電気を消す
to turn off the light
すがたを消す
to disappear, to go into hiding
小まめに消す
to diligently turn something off
最後に消す
to erase last
きれいに消す
to cleanly erase
ツールで消す
to erase with a tool
レーザーで消す
to erase with a laser
二重線で消す
to cross out with a double strikethrough
消したい過去があるんです。
I have a past that I want to erase.
間違えてデータを全部消しちゃったんだよ。
I erased all the data by mistake.
教室を出た後は電気を消すのを忘れないで下さい。
After you leave the classroom, please don’t forget to turn off the light.