音読み: メイ
訓読み: まよう
画数: 9
部首: 辶（しんにょう）
Meaning
Lost / Astray / Bewildered / Hesitate
- Basic forms
- 迷う — be lost; get confused; hesitate / base form
- 迷います — get lost; hesitate / masu form
- 迷った — got lost; hesitated / ta form
- 迷って — being lost; hesitating and … / te-form
- 迷わない — not迷う; not hesitate / negative
- 迷えば — if (you) hesitate; if lost / conditional
- 迷え — hesitate!; get lost! (rare) / imperative
- Common expressions
- 道に迷う — get lost
- 進路に迷う — be unsure about one’s path
- 迷わず行けよ — go without hesitation
- More
- 迷おう — let’s hesitate (rare); let’s be unsure / 〜よう form
- 迷わなかった — didn’t hesitate; wasn’t lost
- 迷っている — is hesitating; is lost / progressive/state
迷う（まよう） is a godan verb ending in う. Used for being lost (direction), being unsure (choices), or hesitating.
- 迷子 — lost child
- 迷信 — superstition
- 迷路 — maze
- 迷惑 — nuisance
- 迷宮 — labyrinth
- 迷彩 — camouflage
- 混迷 — chaos; turmoil
- 低迷 — slump; stagnation
The radical 辶 (しんにょう) represents movement or walking. Combined with 米 (used phonetically), it evokes wandering or being unsure of direction — someone “lost” or hesitating.
道に 迷ってしまいました。
I got lost on the way.
彼は 進路に 迷っている。
He is unsure about his career path.
迷路 — maze