Word
Kana: あずける Romaji: azukeru Level: N3

預ける

Meaning in English

leave in someone’s care, deposit

Stroke order

Animated kanji stroke order

Sentence

Related sentences

Related sentences

There are no published items in this section yet.

Dictionary

Word context

What it means

預ける means to entrust or leave in someone's care for safekeeping, often for a temporary period. The core concept is placing custody or responsibility in another person or institution for safekeeping or administration, whether for objects, money, or people.

Main meanings

  • Entrustment or safekeeping of belongings with another person or institution
  • Depositing money or valuables for safekeeping, such as at a bank or locker
  • Figurative sense of placing trust or confidence in someone

How to use it

Used across formal and informal speech; for physical items, money, or a person under someone's care, e.g., leaving groceries with a neighbor, depositing funds at a bank, or entrusting a child to a caregiver; typical sentence structures include [Nを預ける] or [場所に預ける], with polite forms [Nを預けます] or [Nを預けてください].

Variants and close terms

  • 託す (takusu) — to entrust a task or responsibility
  • 委ねる (yudaneru) — to entrust, leave to someone’s discretion
  • 預かる (azukaru) — to be kept in custody, to take care of

Composition

  • 預: core meaning is deposit/entrust, serving as the semantic nucleus of the word
  • ける: a verb-ending suffix that converts the stem into a transitive verb meaning to perform the act of entrusting or depositing

Etymology

預 means to deposit or entrust, and ける is the verb-forming suffix; together they form a native kun'yomi verb meaning to entrust or deposit for safekeeping; this is a kanji-based native formation rather than a loanword.

Word class

verb (ichidan) (Japanese verb)

Word

Related words by kanji and components

Kanji

Related kanji