To Be Mixed In With
To Be Mixed In
intransitive verb, godan verb
The kanji means mix, and you already learned its transitive and intransitive pair: 混ぜる (to mix) and 混ざる (to get mixed). 混じる is another intransitive verb, but it means to be mixed in with.
So how are 混ざる and 混じる different? 混ざる is used to talk about things that become mixed together as part of the same whole — like blended colors or intermingled groups. 混じる, on the other hand, is less about blending smoothly and more about something getting mixed in when it doesn't quite belong — static in your audio, scattered strands of gray in your dark hair, or even some random stranger sitting at your group's table.
You can remember this by thinking about how this out-of-place thing getting mixed in makes you want to jeer (じる): "Boo, get out of here! You don't fit in!"
Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You learned that reading with 混ぜる, but here's a mnemonic in case you forgot:
Who doesn't want gray hair to be mixed in with their dark hair? Your ma (ま). Sadly for your ma, age and the stress of raising YOU have led to a lot of gray already starting to be mixed in. Poor ma…
ラジオの電波が弱く、ノイズが混じって聞こえにくかった。
The radio signal was weak, and noise was mixed in, so it was difficult to hear.
妹の茶色の目には、時折、緑や黄色が混じって見えることがあった。
My sister's brown eyes occasionally appeared to be mixed with green or yellow.
悪魔からのメッセージには、我々を混乱させるために嘘と真実が入り混じっている。
The messages from the devil are a mixture of lies and truths meant to confuse us.