How to say "shadow" in Japanese

• 影かげJLPT N3approx.Common
  nounThe everyday word for the dark shape cast on the ground or a wall when something blocks the light; it also covers a silhouette or a figure seen in the dark.
  その少女しょうじょは自分じぶんの影かげにおびえていた。↗

  The girl was afraid of her own shadow.
• シャドーCommon
  nounThe katakana borrowing of English 'shadow'. For an ordinary cast shadow this is seldom the word you want — use 影; シャドー is at home where the English loanword itself is used.
• 陰影いんえいCommon
  nounShadow and shading in the artistic sense — the play of light and dark in a picture or a face — reaching into 'gloom'. Not the word for a cast shadow on the ground.
  陰影いんえいに気きをつけてみたのですがなかなかうまくいかないです。↗

  I tried to take care with the shadows, but it just doesn't go very well.
• 尾行びこうCommon
  noun, suru verb, transitive verbCovers 'shadow' as English uses it as a verb: tailing or following a person covertly, as a detective does. It has nothing to do with light and dark shapes; for those use 影.
• 陰かげJLPT N3approx.Common
  nounWritten with a different character from 影, this leans toward 'shade' — an area kept out of direct light, as on the shady side of something — rather than the sharp shape an object casts.
  あの木きの陰かげに腰こしをおろしましょう。↗

  Let's sit down in the shade of that tree.

For a cast shadow or silhouette use 影, for shade 陰, for shading and gloom in art 陰影, for shadowing a person 尾行, and 「シャドー」 only where the English loanword itself is used.

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

• 影かげshadow
• シャドーshadow
• 陰影いんえいshadow
• 尾行びこうshadow
• 陰かげshade
• 日陰ひかげshade
• 陰りかげりshadow (e.g. on someone's happiness)
• つきまとうto follow around
• 暗影あんえいshadow
• 付け回すつけまわすto follow
• 付け回るつけまわるto follow
• 尾けるつけるto follow (someone)
• 跡をつけるあとをつけるto tag along
• ひげshadow (on a candlestick chart)
• 曇りくもりfog (on a mirror, glasses, etc.)
• くまshade
• つけるto follow (someone)