also: がりゃく
noun
The main modern sense: broken pieces left after a building, road, vehicle, etc. has been destroyed. It can literally suggest tiles, stones, and fragments.
地震で倒れた建物の瓦礫が道路をふさいでいた。
Rubble from the building that collapsed in the earthquake was blocking the road.
救助
The rescue team checked whether anyone was under the debris.
noun
junk; rubbish; worthless trash
Less common and often dismissive or figurative: something treated as worthless rubbish. For ordinary household trash, ごみ is the normal word.
彼はその古い機械を瓦礫同然だと言った。
He said the old machine was no better than junk.
Attested but marked as an outdated kana usage; included mainly for recognition in older or dictionary contexts.
Kana spelling is also seen, especially when avoiding the difficult kanji 礫 or in learner-facing text.
Also means wreckage or remains, but often emphasizes the remains of a destroyed object such as a vehicle, ship, or structure rather than scattered rubble.
A common casual word for junk or odds and ends; it is more natural than 瓦礫 for ordinary useless things around the house.
The everyday word for garbage or trash; 瓦礫 is mainly rubble from destruction, and only rarely means rubbish in a broader dismissive sense.
The spelling combines 瓦, 'tile,' and 礫, 'small stone; pebble,' matching the older concrete idea of tiles and pebbles or broken fragments. This is a useful component explanation rather than a precise historical derivation.