How to say "trace" in Japanese

• 跡あとJLPT N3approx.Common
  nounThe general noun for a trace, mark, or sign left by something: footprints, scars, the remains of a building, signs that someone was there. When you mean a physical trace left behind, this is usually the word you want.
  その女性じょせいの顔かおには悲かなしみの跡あとがあった。↗

  The woman's face was marked with grief.
• 痕跡こんせきCommon
  nounA trace or vestige in the sense of a faint sign that something existed or happened, often barely detectable. Suited to abstract or scientific contexts, such as traces of a substance or of past activity, rather than plain physical marks.
  アテネへ向むかう一いち隻せきの貨物船かもつせんが何なんの痕跡こんせきも残のこさずに地中海ちちゅうかいで沈没ちんぼつした。↗

  A cargo vessel, bound for Athens, sank in the Mediterranean without a trace.
• たどるJLPT N1approx.Common
  godan verb, transitive verbThe verb for tracing a path, route, or course: following a road, a river's course, or the course of events step by step. It means to move along or work through something in sequence, not to copy or to leave a mark.
  森もりの中なかの小道こみちを辿たどっていくのは楽たのしいことだ。↗

  It's fun to follow the path through the woods.
• 跡形あとかたCommon
  nounA trace or vestige of something that once existed but is now largely gone, such as the remains of a destroyed building. It is narrower than 跡 and is not the default word for an ordinary mark or sign.
  バブルが跡形あとかたもなく消え去きえさったからである。↗

  That's because the bubble vanished into thin air.
• 写すうつすJLPT N4approx.Common
  godan verb, transitive verbThe verb for tracing in the drawing sense: copying a picture or shape by drawing over it, as when a child traces an illustration. For any other sense of 'trace' this is not the word you want.
  このページをノートに写うつしておきなさい。↗

  Copy this page in your notebook.

For the noun, 跡 is the general word for a mark left behind, 痕跡 a faint vestige, and 跡形 what remains of something that has vanished; for the verb, 「たどる」 is to follow a course and 「写す」 is to trace a picture.

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

• 跡あとtrace
• 痕跡こんせきtrace
• たどるto follow (a road, path, etc.)
• 跡形あとかたtrace
• 写すうつすto copy
• 気けsign
• 跡せきtrace
• なぞるto trace (drawing)
• 跡づけるあとづけるto trace
• シュプールtrace (e.g. from skis)
• 痕こんscar (e.g. from operation, injection)
• 証跡しょうせきproof
• 事跡じせきevidence
• はりすleader
• っ気っけsign
• 写し取るうつしとるto make a copy (of)
• トレースtrace (of a matrix)
• 足取りあしどりtrace (e.g. of route taken by hunted criminal)
• かけらounce (of truth, conscience, etc.)
• 面影おもかげvestige
• 一片いっぺんiota
• 模するもするto trace
• 手繰るたぐるto trace (history, threads of a story, etc.)
• 模すもすto trace
• 引き写すひきうつすto trace
• 影かげtrace
• 一点いってんslightest bit