逃げる

What it means

The verb 逃げる (nigeru) means to remove oneself from danger, capture, or an unpleasant situation by leaving or withdrawing; it describes an intransitive action of fleeing physically or distancing oneself mentally or socially rather than confronting a threat or obligation.

Main meanings

• 1. to avoid or shirk duties and obligations by withdrawing rather than facing them.
• 2. to evade questions, responsibility, or difficult decisions through avoidance or silence.
• 3. to abscond or go on the run in legal or criminal contexts (escape from custody or the law).
• 4. to retreat emotionally or psychologically, as when someone refuses to engage with a stressful situation.

How to use it

Used broadly in spoken and written Japanese to describe physical flight, legal absconding, or metaphorical avoidance; it is neutral to casual in tone, appears in news, everyday conversation, and fiction, and is grammatically intransitive—common conjugations include 逃げます (nigemasu) and 逃げない (nigenai), and it frequently combines with particles indicating source or direction such as から (kara) and に (ni).