Literary/classical. Most learners only meet 刳 in the Yijing 《易经·系辞》 phrase 刳木为舟 ('hollow wood to make a boat'), describing how Fuxi and Shennong invented the dugout canoe.
memory
Right side 夸 (kuā 'boast') gives the sound; left side 刂 is the knife radical. A knife next to 'boast' = the dramatic act of slicing something open.
