音読み: キ
訓読み: かえる・かえす
画数: 10
部首: 巾（はば）
Meaning
To return / To go back / To send back
- Basic forms
- 帰る — to return; to go back / base form
- 帰ります — (I) return; go back / masu form
- 帰った — returned; went back / ta form
- 帰って — return and …; please return / te-form
- 帰らない — do not return / negative form
- 帰れば — if (someone) returns / conditional
- 帰れ・帰りなさい — go back!; return! / imperative
- Other common forms
- 帰りたい — want to return / 〜たい form
- 帰れる — can return / potential
- 帰られた — was returned; was made to return / passive
- 帰られない — cannot return / negative potential
- More
- 帰ろう — let’s return / 〜よう form
- 帰らなかった — did not return / past negative
- 帰っている — has returned; is in the state of being home / progressive/state
帰る（かえる） is a godan verb ending in る. Stem alternates as 帰り → 帰っ, producing forms like 帰ります・帰って・帰った. Commonly used for “returning home” or “going back to a familiar place.”
- 帰国 — return to one’s country
- 帰宅 — returning home
- 帰省 — returning to one’s hometown
- 帰り道 — way back
- 帰属 — affiliation, belonging
- 回帰 — return, regression
- 復帰 — reinstatement, comeback
The kanji 帰 includes components for “go” and “cloth,” with the older form including a woman radical. Originally, it suggested a woman returning to her family or home — and eventually broadened to mean simply “to return.”
何時に帰りますか。
What time will you return?
夏休みに実家に帰りました。
I went back to my parents’ house for summer break.
帰宅 — returning home