66567
Is there any difference between 帰宅{きたく}する and 帰{かえ}る (return home) or are they
just exact synonyms?

For example, in [that sentence from
Tatoeba](https://tatoeba.org/eng/sentences/show/79749) :

> 夜{よる}になったので、帰宅{きたく}した。

Can 帰宅{きたく}した be replaced by 帰{かえ}った?

When should 帰宅{きたく}する be used instead of 帰{かえ}る (or vice versa)?
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2019-04-13T14:37:30.283
66561
2019-04-13T22:10:55.800
2019-04-13T21:50:02.410
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question
word-choice wago-and-kango
Difference between 帰宅{きたく}する and 帰{かえ}る
* 帰宅 means "to return home", but 帰る only means "to return". You can say 会社に帰る, but 会社に帰宅する is wrong. Depending on the situation, 夜になったので帰った can mean "I returned (to the office/base/school/etc)". There are also 帰社 "to return to office", 帰室 "to return to one's room", 帰国 "to return to one's country", and so on.
  * 帰宅 is a [kango](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Japanese_vocabulary), and thus sounds more formal. It's mainly used in business settings. There are already dozens of similar questions in this site, so please take a look at some questions marked with [wago-and-kango](/questions/tagged/wago-and-kango "show questions tagged 'wago-and-kango'").
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-04-13T22:10:55.800
66567
2019-04-13T22:10:55.800
5010
66561
answer