骨の折れる (hone no oreru) Meaning ‘Tiring’ in Japanese Idiom

Pronunciation

Definition

骨の折れる (ほねのおれる, hone no oreru) is a common idiomatic expression that means “very tiring/tough”. Its literal meaning is “bone breaks”, as in “骨の折れる音 (bone-breaking sound)”. However, it can be also used as an idiom to describe something tiring or tough, in which case it modifies a noun like an adjective. For example, “骨の折れる仕事しごと” means “very tiring work” and “骨の折れる作業さぎょう” means “very tiring task”. When you want to say “something is tiring/tough” using this expression, you can replace “の” with “が” in the phrase and use it like “この仕事はとても骨が折れる” meaning “This work is very tiring”.  However, since “骨が折れる” also means ‘(one’s) bones break’,  it is clearer to add some adverb like “なかなか (fairly, really, quite)” or “とても/かなり (very)” before this expression to indicate that you’re using it as an adjective.