How to say "corrosion" in Japanese

• 浸食しんしょくCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbPrimarily erosion: land or rock gradually worn away, especially by water. It can also suggest corrosive eating-away, but for the chemical corrosion of metal use 腐食.
• 腐食ふしょくCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verb, intransitive verbThe word for corrosion of metal by chemical action — rusting and the like. It also covers etching, in which acid bites into a surface.
  ほら、錆さびで金属きんぞくがどんどん腐食ふしょくしているよ。↗

  Hey, rust is eating away the metal.
• 侵食しんしょくCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbErosion, and a homophone of 浸食: land gradually worn away by water, wind, and other natural forces. For the chemical corrosion of metal, 腐食 is the word instead.

Choose 腐食 for corrosion in the chemical sense — metal rusting or being eaten away by chemical action; 浸食 and 侵食 are primarily erosion words for land gradually worn away, with corrosion only a secondary sense.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 浸食しんしょくerosion
• 溶食ようしょくcorrosion
• 腐食ふしょくcorrosion
• 侵食しんしょくerosion