How to say "machinery" in Japanese

Choosing the right word
  • 機器ききCommon
    nounMachinery as tangible equipment: devices and apparatus taken as physical items. When you mean actual machines rather than an abstract system or mechanism, this is the natural choice.
    A display, aka monitor, is an appliance that displays video signal of still images and moving pictures produced by a computer or similar device.
  • 機構きこうJLPT N1approx.Common
    nounReally 'mechanism': machinery understood as a system of interworking parts rather than tangible machines. For actual devices and equipment it is seldom the word you want; 機器 covers that side.
    どこか機構きこうが悪わるいに違ちがいない。↗
    Something must be wrong with the machinery.

Choose 機器 for machinery meaning physical equipment — actual devices and apparatus — and 機構 for machinery as a mechanism, a system of working parts rather than tangible machines.

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

Japanese equivalents
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JLPT vocabulary levels are community estimates, not official (no official lists have been published since the 2010 revision).

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