What's the difference between 迷う and 紕う?


I was looking in a dictionary, and both were listed as being defined as "to
lose one's way, to hesitate, or to waver," but I don't understand why there
are two different kanji for the word.




Dave already answered that there is no difference in 迷う and 紕う in modern
Japanese. Dictionaries agree on this. However, the original meanings of these
two kanji are completely different, and the reason why まよう has these two kanji
notations is related to the history of the Japanese word まよう itself, which is
explained in
[Daijisen](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E3%81%BE%E3%82%88%E3%81%86&dtype=0&dname=0na&stype=0).

Originally, the Japanese word まよう meant for a fabric to become spoiled and for
threads in a fabric to get tangled. This is the meaning of the kanji
[紕](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E7%B4%95). Note that the radical 糸 (いと;
thread) is in this kanji. I do not know if the word まよう is used in this
meaning in the modern Japanese.

There was an unrelated word
[まどう](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E3%81%BE%E3%81%A9%E3%81%86&dtype=0&dname=0ss&stype=0&index=118519800000&pagenum=1)
which meant to be puzzled or to get lost. Later the words まよう and まどう got
confused, and まよう started to be used also for the meaning of まどう. This is why
まよう means to get lost in the modern Japanese! The kanji
[迷](http://dic.yahoo.co.jp/dsearch?enc=UTF-8&p=%E8%BF%B7&dtype=0&dname=0na&stype=1&pagenum=1&index=22004921126900)
means to get lost, and it matches the new meaning of まよう (although まどう is
written as 惑う using a different kanji from 迷). The radical 辶 of 迷 means a
road.

All of this suggests that 迷う and 紕う are actually different words with
different meanings, tempting me to claim that it is incorrect to use 紕う for
the meaning “to get lost.” However, as you and Dave said, dictionaries list
both kanji as acceptable and do not seem to make distinction in meanings
between the two kanji. Although I do not know the exact reason for this, my
guess is that the two notations 迷う and 紕う were used interchangeably in the
actual Japanese text often enough to justify listing both kanji in
dictionaries.

_Edit: In an earlier revision, the last paragraph of this answer was unclear.
I reconsidered it, and hopefully this reflects my thought much better._

