How to say "disappearance" in Japanese

• 失踪しっそうCommon
  noun, suru verb, intransitive verbThe default word for a person's disappearance — someone going missing or running away. Use this when a person cannot be found, as in police reports or news about missing people.
  ３日か後ごになってはじめて彼女かのじょが失踪しっそうしたことを知しった。↗

  It was not until three days after that I knew she had disappeared.
• 消失しょうしつCommon
  noun, suru verb, intransitive verbThe disappearance or vanishing of things rather than people: an object, signal, trail, or image ceasing to be perceived or ceasing to exist. It suggests something fading away or vanishing.
  ここで明確めいかくにしなければならない点てんは、スポーツにおいてアマチュアとプロフェッショナルの境界線きょうかいせんが消失しょうしつしつつあるということだ。↗

  The point we must clarify here is that the lines between amateur and professional in sport are beginning to disappear.
• 消滅しょうめつCommon
  noun, suru verb, intransitive verbDisappearance in the sense of something being extinguished or destroyed outright — coming to an end and ceasing to exist. Often the best choice is really 'extinction' or 'extermination' rather than 'disappearance'.
  虎とらは消滅しょうめつしかかっている種族しゅぞくである。↗

  The tiger is a vanishing species.
• 失跡しっせきCommon
  noun, suru verb, intransitive verbCovers absconding — a person leaving or going into hiding to escape obligations or pursuit. For ordinary disappearance of a person, 失踪 is the usual word; this one is seldom the word you want.
• 蒸発じょうはつJLPT N2approx.Common
  noun, suru verb, intransitive verbLiterally 'evaporation'; colloquially, a person vanishing without a trace, abandoning home, work, or debts. Vivid and informal — the word for someone who has seemingly vanished into thin air.
  聞ききましたわよ。ご両親りょうしんが借金しゃっきんを残のこして蒸発じょうはつしたそうですわね。↗

  I've heard about it. Your parents disappeared, running out on their debt didn't they?

For a person going missing use 失踪 or colloquial 蒸発; for things vanishing use 消失; 消滅 suggests destruction or extinction, while 失跡 is mainly absconding.

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

• 失踪しっそうdisappearance
• 消失しょうしつdisappearance
• 消滅しょうめつextinction
• 失跡しっせきabsconding
• 消退しょうたいdisappearance (e.g. of a symptom)
• 危難失踪きなんしっそうdisappearance (longer than one year after an accident or disaster)
• 蒸発じょうはつdisappearance (of a person)