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When are `止める`, `停める` and `留める` read as `とめる` or `とどめる` (and in the case of
`止める`, `やめる`)?

I think `止めてください` could be read as both `やめてください` and `とめてください`, which I think
could maybe be translated as "cut it out" and "please stop" in English
respectively, but what exactly is the difference in usage and meaning between
`やめる` and `とめる`?

Is `とどめる` usually written in Hiragana, and if not in what contexts do you use
that reading rather than the others?

What exactly is the difference in usage between the three Kanji `止`, `停` and
`留`? (Looking at the Google IME explanation, I think the `止` is used for
generic "stop", `停` when used in reference to cars stopping etc. `留` I'm not
100% on, but I think it might have something to do with "making something
stay"/"detaining" looking at the [Yahoo J-E
definition](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E7%95%99%E3%82%81%E3%82%8B&dtype=3&dname=2na&stype=0&pagenum=1&index=03104800).)
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2012-08-23T01:40:08.747
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question
word-choice kanji verbs readings
When are 止める, 停める and 留める read as とめる, やめる or とどめる?
The verbs やめる and とめる are different verbs, although related "in spirit", which
is the only excuse for writing them with the same 漢字.

Try to think of やめる as "to quit", as in "to quit doing something" or "to quit
work". やめる is almost always written in かな. For quitting work you are allowed
to use 辞める.

とめる (written 止める) means physical stopping and it is thus clear from the
context, whether 止める should be read やめる or とめる. You can quit work, quit
smoking (たばこをやめる), but both are abstract concepts and cannot be stopped
physically.

留める is more of a staying behind, as in 記憶に留める "to keep sth. in mind" and has
little to do with physical non-motion, written 止, or stopping (at a bus stop,
say), written 停.
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2012-08-23T02:01:41.647
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2012-08-23T02:10:14.770
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answer