I have come across various words meaning "living/residing".
What are the differences between them and their usage? I've listed what I think are the differences. Are they correct?
- 住む: Live in some place more or less permanently
- 棲む: Same as above, but for animals
- 泊まる: To live/stay at some place temporarily
- 暮らす: ?
Answer
住む is to live somewhere in the sense of residency. It's where your house is, where you're staying. It's the same kanji as in 住所{じゅうしょ}, or address. Basically the place where you live.
You're right about 棲む. It refers to where an animal lives, like where a bird would make its nest. Googling it I find a lot of literary uses, especially with relation to demons, like "悪魔の棲む家."
泊まる refers to where one stays away from home, like at a hotel on vacation.
暮らす refers to your daily life. Your everyday, your daily situation. It has more of a sense of what you're doing and your condition in that situation rather than the plain idea of place of residency that you would find in 住む. It refers to your existence within society. You find the kanji in compounds like ひとり[暮]{ぐ}らし, which is living alone. Note that with 住む you use the particle 「に」, as in 田舎に住んでいます, but with 暮らす, you use the location of action marker 「で」, as in 田舎で暮らしています.
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