How to say "bush" in Japanese

• 木きJLPT N5approx.Common
  nounChiefly 'tree'; its 'bush' sense is the woody plant itself — a tree or shrub standing in a garden or yard. For a low, dense mass of vegetation it is seldom the word you want.
  その木きには実じつがたわわになっていた。↗

  The tree was heavy with fruit.
• 茂みしげみCommon
  nounHere 'bush' means dense growth rather than a single plant: a thicket or clump of brushwood. It is the word for the bushes things hide in — a cat, a bird, a person in hiding.
  猫ねこは茂しげみに隠かくれていた。↗

  The cat lay hidden in the bushes.

Use 木 for the woody plant itself — a tree or, in its secondary 'bush' sense, a shrub — and 「茂み」 for a bush as dense vegetation: a thicket or brushwood that things hide in.

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

• 木きtree
• 茂みしげみthicket
• やぶthicket
• ブッシュbush
• 灌木かんぼくbush
• ブッシングbushing (bearing)
• 草薮くさやぶthicket