Copyright © 2026 Kotomora. All Rights Reserved.
患う (わずらう) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
Common word› JLPT N1 › Freq. Frequency Top 20,000 Conjugation 患う · godan verb (-u)
Form Positive Negative Dictionary 患わずら う 患わずら わない Polite 患わずら います 患わずら いません Past polite 患わずら いました 患わずら いませんでした Past 患わずら った 患わずら わなかった Te-form 患わずら って 患わずら わないで Desire 患わずら いたい 患わずら いたくない Potential 患わずら える 患わずら えない Passive 患わずら われる 患わずら われない Causative 患わずら わせる 患わずら わせない Causative passive 患わずら わせられる also 患わずら わされる 患わずら わせられない also 患わずら わされない Volitional 患わずら おう Polite volitional 患わずら いましょう Imperative 患わずら え 患わずら うな Conditional 患わずら えば 患わずら わなければ Tara conditional 患わずら ったら 患わずら わなかったら
Report an issue with this page
っ
て
いる
。
He has suffered from heart disease since he was young.
Usage patterns 〈 事こと 〉 を 患わずら う to be afflicted with / suffer from (an illness)
He suffered from tuberculosis when he was young.
長なが く 患わずら う to be ill for a long time
My grandmother passed away after being ill for a long time.
心しん 臓ぞう 病びょう を 患わずら う to suffer from heart disease
He has been suffering from heart disease for many years.
Expressions 胸むね を 患わずら う suffer from lung disease; have lung trouble Kanji 患 afflicted, disease, suffer from Transitive / intransitive 患う can be used transitively with a disease as its object, as in 心臓病を患っている ("suffers from heart disease"), or intransitively to describe simply being ill, as in 母は長く患っている ("my mother has been ill for a long time").
Related words 罹る is the common word for catching or contracting a disease, while 患う stresses ongoing suffering from an illness, often a serious or long-term one.
病む can mean to be ill but is often used figuratively for mental or emotional trouble, whereas 患う is tied specifically to physical disease.
病気になる is the plain, everyday phrase for becoming sick, while 患う is more formal and typically names the specific disease.
患う specifically means to suffer from an illness, whereas 苦しむ is a broader term for any kind of suffering, physical or mental.
患う is the everyday verb for suffering from an illness, while 冒す (used passively as 冒される) is a more literary way to describe a disease affecting the body.
Don't confuse with 患う (to suffer from an illness) shares the same reading わずらう as the root of 煩わしい but has a completely unrelated meaning about sickness rather than annoyance.
患う (same reading) means to suffer from an illness, while 煩う means to worry or be mentally troubled—easy to mix up because they sound identical.
Written forms 患わずら う Usage 86%
Standard kanji spelling for this verb meaning to be afflicted with an illness.
わずらう Usage 14%
Etymology The kanji 患 is conventionally associated with illness, affliction, or suffering. The historical derivation of the Japanese verb わずらう is not specified.
