How to say "swimming" in Japanese

Choosing the right word

水泳すいえいJLPT N4approx.Common
noun, suru verb, intransitive verbThe word for swimming as an activity or sport — lessons, races, exercise. It treats swimming as a discipline or pastime rather than one person's particular way of swimming.
水泳すいえいが私の楽たのしみの１つです。↗
Swimming is one thing I enjoy.
泳ぎおよぎJLPT N3approx.Common
nounThe act or manner of swimming — how someone swims, their stroke or style. Use it when commenting on a person's swimming itself, not on the sport of swimming.
泳およぎを身みにつけるのは簡単かんたんなことだ。↗
It's a cinch to learn to swim.
遊泳ゆうえいCommon
noun, suru verb, intransitive verbSeldom the word you want for swimming itself: it appears mainly in notices prohibiting swimming and in news reports of sharks swimming near shore, and it can also mean bathing.
彼かれは宇宙うちゅうを遊泳ゆうえいした最初さいしょの人間にんげんだった。↗
He was the first man to float in space.

Use 水泳 for swimming as a sport, school subject, or general activity, 「泳ぎ」 for the act or manner of a person's swimming, and 遊泳 mainly in notices and news reports rather than as your everyday word.

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

Japanese equivalents

水泳すいえいswimming
泳ぎおよぎswimming
遊泳ゆうえいswimming
スイミングswimming
スイムswim
くらくらdizzily
水浴びみずあびswimming

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

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