Rust: 錆 vs 銹 vs 鏽 vs 鏥


In doing some looking around today I found four characters that all mean rust
and are all read さび. Is there any distinction that can be made between these
characters?

[code]

    錆
    銹 
    鏽
    鏥
    
[/code]




Let's put these in two conceptual buckets:

  * **錆** : This one's relatively common. It can be used to write the verb さびる, or the derived noun さび. Of the four, this is the only one I imagine you need to know. (Note that the lower-right element of 錆 can be written either 月 or 円.)

  * **銹・鏥・鏽** : These are a lot less common. 銹 and 鏥 both appear to be simplifications of 鏽, replacing the phonetic 肅 with 秀 and 宿 respectively. (Note that all three have シュウ as an ON reading!) All three are available to write the noun さび. The latter two can be treated as variants of 銹.

A few less common compounds customarily use 銹, such as 不銹鋼{ふしゅうこう} and
銹病{さびびょう}. Aside from that, I'd expect 錆 to be used most of the time.

There doesn't appear to be any real difference in meaning, at least according
to my dictionaries. I could be mistaken, of course.




Let's put these in two conceptual buckets:

  * **錆** : This one's relatively common. It can be used to write the verb さびる, or the derived noun さび. Of the four, this is the only one I imagine you need to know. (Note that the lower-right element of 錆 can be written either 月 or 円.)

  * **銹・鏥・鏽** : These are a lot less common. 銹 and 鏥 both appear to be simplifications of 鏽, replacing the phonetic 肅 with 秀 and 宿 respectively. (Note that all three have シュウ as an ON reading!) All three are available to write the noun さび. The latter two can be treated as variants of 銹.

A few less common compounds customarily use 銹, such as 不銹鋼{ふしゅうこう} and
銹病{さびびょう}. Aside from that, I'd expect 錆 to be used most of the time.

There doesn't appear to be any real difference in meaning, at least according
to my dictionaries. I could be mistaken, of course.

