You can write mazaru, “to be mixed, associate with,” in three ways:
混ざる 交ざる 雑ざる
混 means “to mix, blend, confuse,” as you know.
交 means “to be mingled” or “to mix.”
雑 means “miscellaneous, mixed” and rarely uses this kun-yomi. The on-yomi ZATSU is much more common.
Altogether, 混 and 交 share three kun-yomi: ma(zaru), ma(jiru), and ma(zeru).
These kun-yomi play a part in the following fun phrases (in which 混 can replace 交 with no ill effects):
白髪交じりの髪 (shiragamajiri no kami: white hair streaked with grey)
white + hair + to be mingled + hair
英語の交ざった文 (eigo no mazatta bun: writing interspersed with English)
English (1st 2 chars.) + to be mingled + writing
There are actually two ways to write konton, “confusion; chaos; disorder”:
konton: 混沌 渾沌
混, again, means “to mix, blend, confuse,”
渾 means “all, turbidity.”
沌, again, means “swirling water,” “to be blocked,” or “primeval chaos.”
Meanwhile, you can write konkon, “copious, flowing” with three different kanji:
konkon: 滾々 渾々 混々
Look at all that water!
滾 means “to flow.”
渾, again, means “all, turbidity.”
混, again, means “to mix, blend, confuse.”
Then some of these similar kanji pair off in words:
混雑 (konzatsu: confusion, congestion) confusion + mixed up
混雑した (konzatsu shita: disorderly; confused; congested)
混雑具合 (konzatsu guai: degree of congestion; how bad a traffic jam is)
confusion (1st 2 chars.) + condition (last 2 chars.)混交 (konkō: mixture, mixing up, jumbling together)
to mix + to mixMore on this one back in the blog!
