Word
誤り
Meaning in Englisherror, mistake
Animated kanji stroke order
Word context
What it means
誤り means an error or mistake. It denotes a deviation from accuracy or truth in statements, calculations, or interpretations, and is used in formal writing, analysis, and critique to point out faults or misstatements.
Main meanings
- De facto error: a factual misstatement or incorrect calculation within data or reasoning.
- Misinterpretation: a mistaken understanding or conclusion from information.
- Flaw in a process, system, or design that warrants correction or revision.
- In scholarship or journalism, a recognized mistake that should be acknowledged and amended.
How to use it
Used as a noun in formal writing, technical documentation, and critique to identify a mistake; in casual speech, 間違い is more common. Common constructions include 誤りを指摘する, 誤りを訂正する, 誤りを認める.
Variants and close terms
- 間違い — machigai
- ミス — misu
- 過ち — ayamachi
Composition
- 誤: error, wrongness
- り: nominalizing suffix that turns the verb 誤る into a noun 誤り
Etymology
etimologia From 誤る (ayamaru) with the nominalizing suffix -り, forming 誤り; 誤 conveys error and the noun expresses the state or act of erring.
Origin
Origin in classical and modern Japanese: formed from the verb 誤る (to err) with the nominal suffix -り.
Word class
Noun (名詞)