The real meaning of 交差点


I struggle to understand what 交差点 actually means. When I look it up in Weblio
for example I see:

> 2本以上の道路などが交わる所  
>  A place where two or more roads meet

This is what I, as a UK native, would call a junction.

But I often see the word translated as 'crossing'. To me this means a place
where pedestrians cross the road. And when I look on google images for 交差点 I
mostly see pictures of junctions that **also** have zebra crossings.

Perhaps it's my failure to understand US English. Maybe crossing is simply US
English for junction? Is it just a coincidence that most of the pictures I see
also contain a pedestrian crossing? Or is a 交差点 a Japanese concept that
incorporates both a junction and a pedestrian crossing?




交差点 only refers to "a place where two or more roads meet". Pedestrian
crossings are called 横断歩道. Many 交差点 have 横断歩道, but they are not synonymous.

交差点 safely encompasses small ones, but I think Google Image Search mainly
shows larger ones with 横断歩道 for two reasons:

  * Simply, small 交差点 are are rarely discussed in the news or in politics.
  * 交差点 does tend to refer to larger intersections. People tend to also use 十字路, [三叉路](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E5%8F%89%E8%B7%AF) and so on for relatively small ones. Google Image Search results for 三叉路 are significantly different, although technically speaking 三叉路 is just a type of 交差点.




交差点 only refers to "a place where two or more roads meet". Pedestrian
crossings are called 横断歩道. Many 交差点 have 横断歩道, but they are not synonymous.

交差点 safely encompasses small ones, but I think Google Image Search mainly
shows larger ones with 横断歩道 for two reasons:

  * Simply, small 交差点 are are rarely discussed in the news or in politics.
  * 交差点 does tend to refer to larger intersections. People tend to also use 十字路, [三叉路](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E5%8F%89%E8%B7%AF) and so on for relatively small ones. Google Image Search results for 三叉路 are significantly different, although technically speaking 三叉路 is just a type of 交差点.

