似る (にる, niru) Japanese meaning: resemble | Kotomora

似にる

に

る

Common wordJLPTN4Freq.FrequencyTop 1,000

似る · ichidan verb

Meanings

ichidan verb, intransitive verb

Intransitive verb describing similarity in appearance, character, or nature. Often used with に (〜に似る) or in the ている form (似ている) for a state.

似に通かようN1
似通う emphasizes that two things share a resembling quality or trait, while 似る is the plain, general verb for looking or being alike.
類るい似じN1
類似する is a formal, often written word for resemblance (e.g. in reports or legal text), whereas 似る is the everyday spoken verb.
彷ほう彿ふつ
似る is the everyday verb for 'to resemble', while 彷彿 is a more literary word for a strong, evocative resemblance.
近ちかいN5
近い (sense of 'nearly the same') describes a degree of closeness or resemblance as an adjective, while 似る is the verb meaning 'to resemble' and focuses on shared characteristics.

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そっくりN3
似る is a verb meaning 'to resemble' in general, while そっくり emphasizes an extremely close, almost identical resemblance.
酷こく似じ
似る is the plain, general verb for resembling something, while 酷似 stresses that the resemblance is extremely close or striking.
通かようN4
似る is the ordinary word for resembling something, while 通う in this sense is rarer and sounds formal or literary, as in 通うところがある.

違ちがうN5
違う means 'to be different' and is the everyday opposite of 似る, which means 'to resemble'.
異ことなるN3
異なる is a more formal way to say 'to differ', contrasting with 似る's meaning of 'to resemble'.

似に合あうN4
似合う looks similar in form to 似る but means 'to suit/look good on', not 'to resemble'.
煮にるN3
似る (to resemble) is pronounced exactly like 煮る (to boil/simmer) but has a completely unrelated meaning, so learners must rely on kanji or context to distinguish them.

The historical derivation is uncertain. The kanji 似 is conventionally associated with resemblance.