削 has two pronunciations: xiāo (to peel/pare, physical action) and xuē (to reduce/weaken, as in 削弱 xuēruò 'to weaken' or 剥削 bōxuē 'to exploit'). The HSK lists xiāo, but xuē appears in many important words.
culture
In gaming slang, 被削了 (bèi xuē le) means a character got nerfed — their abilities were 'shaved down' by the developers. Every patch note discussion uses this word.
