A content retrieving device has: a content storing unit in which are stored a plurality of contents that are associated with one or more character strings; a thesaurus storing unit in which is stored a thesaurus that includes vertical relationship information between character strings; an inputting unit by which a character string is inputted; an extracting unit extracting an associated character string that is associated with an inputted character string, by using the thesaurus and on the basis of association degree information that expresses association degrees between character strings included in the thesaurus by numerical values determined in accordance with the vertical relationship information=between the character strings; and a retrieving unit retrieving contents associated with the associated character string and the inputted character string.