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Skimming through the options my IME presents for とる, I'm seeing a whole lot of
choices, including the following:

  * 取る
  * 撮る
  * 録る
  * 執る
  * 摂る
  * 捕る
  * 獲る
  * 穫る
  * 採る
  * 盗る

While I've seen 取る ("to take") and 撮る ("to record") relatively frequently, the
rest appear rather foreign to me. What do they mean, and how are they used?
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2014-06-14T16:42:29.120
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2014-06-16T19:41:32.980
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question
words nuances kanji homophonic-kanji
What's with all the possible kanji for とる?
_Information primarily sourced from 大辞林's entry on とる._

## とる

**General meaning:** to take, to manipulate; to record

## 取る

取る means “to have in hand”, “to take in hand”, “to collect”, “to demand time
or labor”, “to undertake”.

Unlike 持つ【もつ】, 取る involves manipulation of the object in hand for a purpose;
not just simply holding it.

## 撮る

撮る means “to shoot pictures or movies”.

## 録る

録る means “to record sound/video to a medium”. It differs from 撮る in that it
focuses on the medium moreso than the recording of what is taking place.

## 執る

執る means “to take into hand and use”, “to carry out”.

とる is often written as 取る, however it can also be written as 執る in cases such
as the following:

  * 筆を執る [to pick up a writing brush/to take up the pen]
  * 事務を執る [to attend to business]

## 摂る

摂る means “to take into the body” (e.g. nutrition), “to eat”.

## 捕る

捕る means “to arrest”, “to catch”. (cf. 捕まる【つかまる】)

## 獲る

獲る means “to catch game” (e.g. hunting or fishing). It can also be written as
捕る【とる】.

## 穫る

穫る means “to harvest crops”.

## 採る

採る means “to gather”, “to go hunting for”, “to collect”, “to select”.

## 盗る

盗る means “to take someone else’s things”, “to steal”. It can also be written
as 取る.

## I just want to play it safe, which ones are generic?

取る is a safe bet for most things that involve picking up or taking objects,
while 撮る is safe for anything involving recording.
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2014-06-14T16:42:29.120
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You already know the dictionary meanings.

  * All of these とる variants listed here are understood by most Japanese adults.
  * In general, using certain uncommon [同訓異字](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%90%8C%E8%A8%93%E7%95%B0%E5%AD%97) verbs, such as 啼く (vs 鳴く), [護る](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/16155/) (vs 守る), 淹れる (vs 入れる), can sometimes do more harm than good in daily practice. It's unnecessarily difficult and too poetic. You probably know this risk.
  * However, [NHK does use many of these とる variants](http://www.nhk.or.jp/bunken/summary/kotoba/uraomote/111.html) according to the situation, except for 穫る, 録る. Unfortunately, you can't just stick to 取る.
  * 撮る is definitely worth memorizing because it's used very frequently and 「写真を取る」「映画を取る」 is 100% incorrect. However 「撮る is safe for anything involving recording」 is also not accurate because 撮る can be used only for recording _with cameras_. 
    * テレビで放送されていた映画をDVDに撮る => weird
    * 野鳥の鳴き声をスマホで撮る => weird
  * Besides 取る and 撮る, **the safest strategy is not to stick to 取る, but to stick to hiragana とる**. Or you can avoid ambiguous とる altogether and use equivalents such as 盗む, 採用する, 採取する, 録画する/録音する, 捕まえる and 収穫する. These are actually what I do in daily practice. I sometimes dare write 「栄養をとる」「山菜をとる」「筆をとる」 instead of 「栄養を摂る」「山菜を採る」「筆を執る」 to make my text look milder.
  * 「映画を録る (at home) 」 is not listed in 常用漢字表 but I really see this often.
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2014-06-16T01:47:46.633
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