Translation guide
The act of avoiding work, duty, or responsibility. In Japanese, this is expressed through verbs and phrases that convey laziness, neglect, or evasion.
To express that someone is not doing their job, skipping tasks, or being lazy about responsibilities.
Casual verb meaning to skip work, school, or a duty. Derived from 'sabotage'. Very common in everyday speech.
He often shirks his work.
I skipped class and played games.
To be lazy, to neglect one's duties. Can be used for both general laziness and specific instances of shirking.
He is shirking the housework.
Study without shirking.
To evade responsibility. More formal and direct than サボる. Used when someone actively avoids accountability.
He always tries to shirk responsibility.
Noun meaning playing hooky or taking an unjustified day off. Often used for school or work.
I'm playing hooky today.
Escape, evasion. Often used in compounds like 現実逃避 (escapism) or 責任逃避 (shirking responsibility). More abstract and formal.
That's shirking your responsibility.
サボる implies intentionally skipping a specific task or event (like work or class), while 怠ける describes a general state of laziness or neglecting ongoing duties. サボる is more colloquial.
I skipped the meeting.
He is neglecting his practice.
There is no single Japanese verb that perfectly matches 'shirk'. Avoid direct translations like 回避する (to avoid) or 逃げる (to run away) unless the context is about evading a specific thing. Use サボる or 怠ける for most cases of shirking work/duty.