Translation guide
Describes an indirect route or a non-direct manner of doing or saying something. In Japanese, this is expressed through specific nouns, adjectives, and verbs that convey physical detours or figurative indirectness.
Taking a longer, indirect path to reach a destination.
Noun/suru-verb meaning 'detour' or 'taking the long way around'. Most common and natural for physical roundabout routes.
遠回りして帰ろう。
Let's take the long way home.
この道は遠回りになる。
This road is a roundabout way.
Noun meaning 'detour' or 'roundabout route'. Slightly more concrete than 遠回り, often used for road directions.
工事で回り道をした。
I took a detour because of construction.
Formal noun/suru-verb for 'detour' or 'bypass', often used in traffic reports or official contexts.
事故のため迂回してください。
Please take a detour due to an accident.
Expressing something in a non-direct, circumlocutory way.
Na-adjective/noun meaning 'indirect' or 'roundabout' in speech. Often used as 遠回しに言う (to say indirectly).
遠回しに断られた。
I was turned down in a roundabout way.
遠回しな言い方はやめてください。
Please stop beating around the bush.
Adjective phrase meaning 'roundabout way of speaking' with a nuance of being long-winded or tedious.
彼の説明は回りくどい。
His explanation is roundabout.
Doing something in a non-direct, inefficient way.
Also used figuratively for inefficient methods. 遠回りな方法 means 'roundabout method'.
それは遠回りなやり方だ。
That's a roundabout way of doing it.
Na-adjective meaning 'roundabout' or 'indirect', often used for methods or explanations. Literary and formal.
迂遠な手段を取る。
Take a roundabout measure.
Avoid directly translating 'roundabout way' as 円形の道 (circular road) or 回転道 (rotary road). These are incorrect for the intended meaning of indirectness.
Both mean 'detour', but 遠回り emphasizes the extra distance or time, while 回り道 focuses on the route itself. 遠回り is more common in everyday speech.
Noun meaning 'euphemism' or 'circumlocution'. More formal and technical than 遠回し.
日本語では婉曲表現がよく使われる。
Euphemisms are often used in Japanese.