混じる 混ざる 交じる 混ぜる 。。。
So these two kanji 混 and 交 has multiple words that mean transitively and intransitively as ‘mix’. Is there a difference between these kanjis? Does anyone have any helpful tips to remember which one is transitive and which one is intransitive?
The kanji 混 refers to mixing where you lose the ability to separate the original items, like mixing paints, or flour and eggs.
The kanji 交 refers to mixing where you can separate the items again after mixing them, like colored marbles, or numbers and letters in a string of characters.
That page explains the kanji meanings, but then goes on to talk about some confusing usages. Such as 混合リレー for a race where men and women run together, or トランプにジョーカーを混ぜる for mixing a joker into a deck of cards.
You can tell men and women apart, and cards are identifiable, so you would think 交 is better, but the page explains why those use 混. Basically, because the members become a single team, and because the purpose of mixing the joker into the deck is so that people don’t know where it is, so 混 is more appropriate.
Whether that makes sense to you, or you just have to remember those as exceptions, I’m not sure.
There may have been a distinction at some point, because まざる is the “natural” intransitive partner derived together with まぜる, while まじる has a separate etymology, but in reality まざる and まじる are basically used interchangeably in many scenarios.
This thesaurus entry includes the line 「混ざる」は … 実際には、「混じる」と同様に用いられる。
ま:
交じる__ (vi) to be mixed/blended with
交ざる__ (vi) same, but indistinguishable after mixing*
交ぜる__ (vT) to mix/stir/blend sth. まじ:
交わる__ (vi) to cross/intersect/join/meet
交える__ (vT) to mix/combine/include sth. か:
交う___ (aux) to take turns/mingle**
交わす__ (vT) to exchange eg. words
*: 交ざる has the connotation of being indistinguishable after mixing, but otherwise the same meaning as 交じる
**: eg. 行き交う to go back and forth; 飛び交う to fly/flutter about