Chinese

		to cut and polish	to carve and polish
simp. and trad. (切磋琢磨)		切磋	琢磨

Idiom

切磋琢磨

1. to learn by exchanging ideas and experiences; friendly competition; improvement by learning from others

Japanese

Etymology

From Middle Chinese 切磋琢磨.

Noun

切磋琢磨 ‎(hiragana せっさたくま, romaji sessatakuma)

1. applying oneself and studying hard to cultivate oneself
2. Friendly competition, improving oneself by learning from others.

Verb

切磋琢磨する ‎(hiragana せっさたくまする, romaji sessatakuma suru)

1. apply oneself and study hard to improve oneself
2. Try to improve by learning from others, apply oneself to closely to someone.

Conjugation

References

• The Kōjien (広辞苑) Dictionary of the Japanese Language, 5th edition, Iwanami Shoten Publishing, Tokyo.