追い付く
Meaning in Englishcatch up with, overtake
Animated kanji stroke order
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Word context
What it means
What does 追い付く mean? It means to catch up with someone or something, to come up to their pace or position, closing the distance. In everyday use it describes both physical pursuit and achieving parity in progress or performance, signaling that the gap is no longer larger than before.
Main meanings
- To physically catch up to someone who is ahead in a race or movement.
- To reach the same level of progress, performance, or pace as someone else.
- To close the gap in distance, time, or performance.
- Figuratively, to match or exceed someone’s knowledge or skill level.
How to use it
Used in neutral to casual to formal contexts to describe catching up in distance or progress; common constructions include XがYに追い付く and XはYに追いつく, and it appears in sports, academics, work, and everyday planning as a way to express closing a gap or matching pace; typical usage involves verbs of movement or progress and targets such as a person, time, or standard.
Variants and close terms
- 追い越す (おいこす, oikosu) — to overtake
- 差を縮める (さを ちぢめる, sa o chijimeru) — to close the gap
- 追随する (ついつい する? tsuizui suru) — to follow closely
- 遅れる (おくれる, okureru) — to fall behind
Composition
- 追 = to chase, pursue
- 付く = to attach, adhere; here, it conveys the idea of attaching to the pace or position ahead
Etymology
From 追う (ou, to chase) + 付く (tsuku, to attach/adhere); the connector い links the act of chasing to the act of attaching to the pursued, yielding the sense of closing the gap.
Word class
verb (godan)