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What is the difference between 転ぶ【ころぶ】 and 落ちる【おちる】?

Here is a nice entry about おちる [The differences with おちる
(落ちる、堕ちる、墜ちる)](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/62495/31150)

...but I have not found an explanation of the difference between 転ぶ【ころぶ】 and
落ちる【おちる】 as it occurs in this sentence:

けがは「転【ころ】ぶ」が約【やく】40％、「落【お】ちる」が約【やく】30％で、この2つで約【やく】70%でした

which I would unidiomatically translate as

_About 40% were injured by tumbling and about 30% by dropping._

<https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/easy/k10013371171000/k10013371171000.html>

The wwwjdic entries for each verb give quite a number of suggestions, but I
was wondering how to imagine the situations leading to the different kinds of
injury. For instance, does one use 転【ころ】ぶ for "falling down stairs" and
落ちる【おちる】 for "falling off a ladder"?
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2022-10-05T14:53:20.553
96493
2022-10-05T16:05:30.460
31150
question
words word-usage connotation
what is the difference between 転ぶ【ころぶ】 and 落ちる【おちる】
[Definition
2](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E8%BB%A2%E3%81%B6_%28%E3%81%93%E3%82%8D%E3%81%B6%29/)
for 転ぶ here defines it as 'to lose one's balance and fall down', while
[落ちる](https://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/word/%E8%90%BD%E3%81%A1%E3%82%8B/) is
defined as 'to naturally or suddenly move from above to below'. While
_technically_ you could say 落ちる is involved in 転ぶ - it is after all gravity
pulling down after you lose your balance - in practice they're pretty
separate. There's more of an element of height in the ladder compared to the
stairs.

One more example: if you tripped and fell through a window, the initial
tripping is 転ぶ, while what happens after you go through is 落ちる.
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-05T16:05:30.460
96496
2022-10-05T16:05:30.460
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96493
answer