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I was pretty sure that `切{き}った` meant something was cut _from_ something else.
So `ケーキから一人分{ひっとりぶん}を切{き}った` would mean, "one piece was cut from the cake."

However, I came across a usage which, at least at first, doesn't seem to
conform to that understanding. In my JLPT textbook, there is this graph
showing the number of people in the farming industry _(ignore the red line,
it's just a pen mark)_ :

![jlpt graph](https://i.stack.imgur.com/tl4Zi.jpg)

One question asked which of four sentences best describes the change from the
beginning to the end of the graph. This is the correct answer:

> 一千{いっせん}万人{まんにん}を上回{うわまわ}っていたものが、300万{まん}人{にん}を切{き}った。

My erroneous interpretation was that the sentence meant something like "There
were over 10 million people, but 3 million were cut." Or, in other words, 3
million cut from 10 million leaves 7 million remaining. But the graph shows
it's 3 million remaining, not 7 million, so I didn't think this was the right
answer.

Instead, after checking the answers and seeing that this sentence is indeed
the correct description, I'm now guessing the sentence is supposed to mean
"There were over 10 million people, but it was **cut down to** 3 million."

However, I can't see how in this sentence `切{き}った` means "cut down to", and
not "cut from".

What is it that I am not seeing in this sentence, or what am I not
understanding about `切{き}る`?
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2012-05-17T05:00:28.797
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grammar word-choice jlpt
Does 切った mean to "cut out" or "cut from"?
This 切{き}る means 下回{したまわ}る, to fall below~~.
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2012-05-17T05:32:56.800
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Just because one of the figurative meanings of "cut" in English is "to reduce
in number", doesn't mean that the same applies to 切る in Japanese. That is
simply not one of the figurative meanings of 切る.

切るdoes have many figurative meanings, however.

One is "fall below" for prices, times, numbers etc.

Another is to "lay off, fire". When used in this sense, the meaning might seem
close to "to reduce in number", so that could be one cause for the confusion.
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2012-05-18T08:18:36.190
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Don't think about "cut". Stop thinking about "cut from" or "cut down to" or
anything else. At a certain point, thinking in English about Japanese becomes
more obstructive than anything else. Just think in Japanese.

Well, OK, the example from your question (300万まん人にんを切きった。) isn't the most
intuitive. Let's go with another example. I first encountered this meaning in
the context of a race, and I think that's a great way to understand this
meaning, so we'll go with that (lifting Chocolate's example from another
comment...). Again, only think in Japanese.

> 100メートル競走{きょうそう}に10秒{びょう}を切{き}った。

この文だけに集中して、想像して。この人は毎日１００メートル走を走っている。毎日走って、毎日１０秒以上のタイムしか取れない。そこで、ある日この人は本当に思い切って走って、なんと！タイムは９.９秒！この人はやっと１０秒を切った！。。。という。

...Once you've got a good grasp on this sense of 切る in one setting, you can
easily carry that over to other settings.

I hope that helps at all. =X (If I made mistakes, by all means point them out,
fix them!)
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2012-05-18T17:18:19.217
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