How to say "survive" in Japanese

• 生き残るいきのこるCommon
  godan verb, intransitive verbThe core word for surviving a disaster, accident, war, or competition; it stresses remaining alive when others do not. Typical in news about earthquake survivors or a company surviving in a competitive market.
  彼かれが生き残いきのこったということは注目ちゅうもくすべきことだ。↗

  That he survived was remarkable.
• 助かるたすかるJLPT N2approx.Common
  godan verb, intransitive verbCovers being saved or rescued from danger, with survival as the outcome. The focus is on escaping harm thanks to help or luck, as when a life is spared in an accident; it is less about long-term survival.
  もう助たすからないものと観念かんねんした。↗

  I gave up all hope of survival.
• 生き延びるいきのびるCommon
  ichidan verb, intransitive verbMeans surviving an ordeal such as famine, war, or illness, and by extension living long. Close to 生き残る, but it also carries the nuance of continuing to live through or beyond a period of hardship.
  自然しぜんがそうした生き延いきのびるための手段しゅだんを与あたえているのである。↗

  Nature provides them with the means of survival.
• 食うくうJLPT N3approx.Common
  godan verb, transitive verbA rough, colloquial word meaning to live or make a living; 'survive' here means scraping by, as in barely earning enough to eat. Seldom the word you want for surviving danger — it is really about livelihood, and is coarse in tone.
• 凌ぐしのぐJLPT N1approx.Common
  godan verb, transitive verbMeans pulling through or getting over something difficult, so 'survive' in the sense of enduring and weathering hardship — a hard winter, a crisis, adversity. It emphasizes holding out against trouble rather than merely staying alive.

Use 「生き残る」 or 「生き延びる」 for literal survival, 「助かる」 for being saved from danger, 「凌ぐ」 for weathering hardship, and 「食う」 only in the colloquial sense of getting by or making a living.

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

• 生き残るいきのこるto survive
• 助かるたすかるto be saved
• 生き延びるいきのびるto survive
• 命をつなぐいのちをつなぐto survive
• 生きながらえるいきながらえるto live long
• 消え残るきえのこるto remain unextinguished
• 死に損なうしにそこなうto fail to die (after attempting suicide)
• 生き抜くいきぬくto live through
• 食うくうto live
• 凌ぐしのぐto pull through
• 乗り切るのりきるto get through (adversity)
• 生き続けるいきつづけるto keep alive
• 立つたつto be sustained (of a living, business, etc.)
• くぐるto survive
• 持つもつto last