I've been introduced to 着る (for things you put on like a shirt) and 履く (for things you put on like pants) in class, but is there a general way to just say something like wear clothes? Or must the "method" of putting on be specified?
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Is this in the context of something like specifying what one should be bringing to some event? (i.e. Bring clothes...)– summeaMar 9, 2012 at 2:16
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@summea No, this has nothing to do with an event or bringing anything. As it says in the question title, this is about wearing.– atlantizaMar 9, 2012 at 2:18
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4 Answers
Yes, there is a general word:
身に着ける
So, you can say:
帽子を身に着ける
服を身に着ける
ズボンを身に着ける
However, in daily conversation it is more common to say 着る or 履く. Also, 身につける can mean something different like 知識を身につける.
Or, after rereading your question, it looks like you don't want to specify what you are wearing. In that case, the other answer is correct.
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That was indeed my original question, but I liked the additional information from this answer. Mar 9, 2012 at 5:11
Or must the "method" of putting on be specified?
This might not be exactly what you're asking, but in Japanese, all the verbs for putting something on, like 着る, 履く or 身につける, are change-of-state verbal phrases, i.e. in their base form, they mean "put on", not "wear".
In order to express "wear" you have to express the resulting state, which is done by ～ている (でいる)
シャツを着る put on a shirt → シャツを着ている wear a shirt
etc.
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〜たform is also acceptable for "wearing". See japanese.stackexchange.com/q/3361/78 about this pattern.– istrasciMar 9, 2012 at 15:31 -
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A more formal and concise term would be 着用する
帽子を着用
服を着用
ズボンを着用
To express wearing clothes, various verbs are used.
General words like 身【み】に着【つ】ける or 着用【ちゃくよう】する has meaning of to wear something on one's body. Not only clothes but including anything carried/held by oneself such as intelligence, technology, skill, medal, armband, good-luck charm, pistol, helmet, armor, etc.
Kanji 着 had original meaning of "to attach/touch/contact" in Chinese. It was assigned to Japanese indigenous word きる (to wear) so that 着【き】る was resulted.
Specific words are as below.
- 着る： to wear clothes to cover upper or whole body
- 被【かぶ】る： to wear something to cover head or face
- かける： to make object in state of 被る with something
- 穿【は】く： to wear clothes to cover lower body
- 履【は】く： to wear something on foot, such as footwear
Usually セーターを着る indicates action of putting one's head or shoulder into clothes and pull it down, while ズボンを穿く indicates action of putting foot into clothes and pull it up. Therefore, 着る has sense of wearing from top down and 穿く has from bottom up. Certainly, exceptions may occur.
As a matter of fact, kanji 穿 is also used for another verb 穿【うが】つ meaning of which is dig/drill/bore. My impression is that wearing trousers could be felt similarity of drilling/boring. I'm wondering whether ancient people had same feeling to assign this kanji to 穿【は】く.
