Components

Point of interest: 窪む(くぼむ)and 凹む(へこむ, くぼむ)

POI
窪む(くぼむ)and 凹む(へこむ, くぼむ)
107 words
In Japanese there are two key words meaning 'become dented', 'cave in' etc: へこむ and くぼむ.
へこむ is the more versatile, because it can refer to either physical or psychological depression. くぼむ on the other hand only refers to physical depression.
へこむ is written in kanji as
へこ
む using 凹, the standard kanji for 'concavity'. くぼむ can be written with either 窪 as
くぼ
む or 凹 as
くぼ
む. In other words, without furigana,
くぼ
む is indistinguishable from
へこ
む. Because of this ambiguity, Japanese prefer to write くぼむ using 窪 (even though it is actually not a Jōyō kanji), or increasingly just with kana, reserving 凹 for へこむ.

Kanji used in this point of interest

オウ    concave   
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くぼ a hollow, a depression   くぼ to cave in   
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