- otoru to be inferior to, to be less good at, to fall behind
Formal written or polite speech; used for comparing quality, ability, or rank, often in evaluations and news.
彼の技術は私より劣る。
Kare no gijutsu wa watashi yori otoru.
His skill is inferior to mine.
品質の点で他社に劣る。
Hinshitsu no ten de tasha ni otoru.
We are inferior to other companies in quality.
⚖️ Often confused with 落ちる (ochiru), which means to drop or fail, but 劣る specifically means to be lower in quality or ability.
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Found in a wide range of contexts. Useful for building reading and listening fluency.
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