Meaning

Primary

To Be Different

Alternatives

To Be Wrong, To Be Mistaken, To Vary, To Differ

Word Type

intransitive verb, godan verb

Explanation

Because the hiragana ends with an sound, you know this word is a verb. The kanji itself means different so the verb vocab version is to be different... and of course, to be different is also to be wrong in Japan. Don't be different!

Reading

ちがう
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

Explanation

The reading is the same as the reading you learned with the kanji. It's not different at all.

Context

Context Sentences

違うアプローチも試してみましょう。

Let's try a different approach.

今の人、どこかで会った気がしたんですが、違ったみたいです。

I felt as if I had met the person before, but apparently I was wrong.

ベテラン社員とは違って、新入社員の基本給はあまり高くない。

Compared to veteran employees, the base pay of new employees isn’t very high.

Kanji Composition