Translation guide
The English word "corruption" covers several distinct concepts in Japanese, from political bribery to data corruption and moral decay. The best translation depends heavily on context.
Illegal or unethical conduct by people in power, especially involving bribery or misuse of public funds.
The standard term for corruption in politics, government, or business involving bribery or embezzlement.
その政治家は汚職で逮捕された。
The politician was arrested for corruption.
汚職事件が相次いで発覚した。
Corruption scandals were uncovered one after another.
Broader term for corruption, decay, or rot, often used in political or moral contexts. Can imply systemic decay.
政府の腐敗が深刻な問題になっている。
Government corruption has become a serious problem.
Specifically refers to bribery (giving and receiving bribes). Often used in legal contexts.
贈収賄の疑いで捜査が行われた。
An investigation was conducted on suspicion of bribery.
Errors in computer data that make it unreadable or incorrect.
General term for damage or corruption of data, files, or hardware.
ファイルが破損して開けなくなった。
The file got corrupted and can't be opened.
Specifically 'data corruption'. Common in IT contexts.
データ破損を防ぐためにバックアップを取ってください。
Please back up your data to prevent data corruption.
Colloquial term for garbled or corrupted data, often due to encoding issues.
文字化けではなく、データ化けが起きた。
It wasn't mojibake, but data corruption occurred.
Loss of moral integrity, often in a person's character or society.
Moral decay, depravity, or falling into vice. Often used for personal corruption.
権力は彼を堕落させた。
Power corrupted him.
Also used for moral decay, especially in a societal sense.
Decadence, degeneracy, often used in literary or historical contexts.
Alteration or degradation from an original pure form.
Making something worse through alteration; corruption of a text or system.
その翻訳は原作の改悪だ。
That translation is a corruption of the original work.
Distortion, twisting, or misrepresentation, often of facts or texts.
Change in quality, often implying degradation or corruption of original nature.
汚職 (oshoku) specifically refers to corruption involving bribery or illegal acts by officials. 腐敗 (fuhai) is broader, meaning decay or rot, and can be used for moral, political, or systemic corruption. In news, 汚職 is more common for specific scandals, while 腐敗 describes a general state.
While 腐敗 means 'corruption' in the sense of decay, it is not used for digital data corruption. Use 破損 (hason) or データ破損 instead.
City life can corrupt people's hearts.
退廃した貴族社会。
A decadent aristocratic society.
歴史の歪曲は許されない。
Corruption of history is unforgivable.
伝統の変質を嘆く声もある。
Some lament the corruption of tradition.