How to say "axis" in Japanese

• 軸じくJLPT N1approx.Common
  noun, noun (suffix)The general word: the axis of a graph or coordinate system, an axis of rotation, and also a shaft or axle. For 'axis' in a mathematical or mechanical sense, this is the word you want.
• 中軸ちゅうじくCommon
  nounCovers 'axis', but its hallmark is the figurative pivot: the central figure or key man around whom a team or organization revolves. Choose it when 'axis' means the person or thing everything else turns on.
• 機軸きじくCommon
  nounIts glosses include 'axis; axle', but also 'plan; contrivance', and it is really the latter — a plan or contrivance — that this word is about. For a literal axis, 軸 is the word you want.

Use 軸 for a literal axis — of a graph, of rotation — or a shaft or axle; 中軸 for a figurative pivot or central figure; 機軸 really means a plan or contrivance, seldom the word for 'axis' itself.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

• 軸じくaxis
• 中軸ちゅうじくaxis
• 機軸きじくaxis
• アクシスaxis
• 軸椎じくついaxis (vertebra)
• 軸線じくせんshaft line