醜い

Japanese

Kanji in this term
醜
みにく
Grade: S
kun’yomi

Alternative forms

Etymology

Compound of 見 (mi, “seeing, looking”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 見る (miru, “to see, to look at”)) +‎ 難い (nikui, “hard to do, difficult”), with a literal meaning of “hard to look at” or “difficult to see”.[1][2]

Pronunciation

  • (Tokyo) みにく​い [mìníkúꜜì] (Nakadaka – [3])[2][3]
  • IPA(key): [mʲiɲ̟ikɯ̟ᵝi]
  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of "醜い"
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) 醜く みに​くく
みにく​く
[mìníꜜkùkù]
[mìníkúꜜkù]
Terminal (終止形) 醜い みにく​い [mìníkúꜜì]
Attributive (連体形) 醜い みにく​い [mìníkúꜜì]
Key constructions
Informal negative 醜くない みに​くくない
みにく​くない
[mìníꜜkùkùnàì]
[mìníkúꜜkùnàì]
Informal past 醜かった みに​くかった
みにく​かった
[mìníꜜkùkàttà]
[mìníkúꜜkàttà]
Informal negative past 醜くなかった みに​くくなかった
みにく​くなかった
[mìníꜜkùkùnàkàttà]
[mìníkúꜜkùnàkàttà]
Formal 醜いです みにく​いです [mìníkúꜜìdèsù]
Conjunctive 醜くて みに​くくて
みにく​くて
[mìníꜜkùkùtè]
[mìníkúꜜkùtè]
Conditional 醜ければ みに​くければ
みにく​ければ
[mìníꜜkùkèrèbà]
[mìníkúꜜkèrèbà]

Adjective

醜(みにく)い • (minikui) -i (adverbial 醜(みにく)く (minikuku))

  1. ugly
  2. ignoble, mean, shabby, vile, vulgar
  3. difficult to distinguish, hard to make out

Usage notes

The 見難い spelling is more common for the “difficult to distinguish” sense.

Inflection

Synonyms

Antonyms

References

  1. Shōgaku Tosho (1988) 国語大辞典(新装版) [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
  2. Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tōkyō: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  3. NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: NHK Publishing, →ISBN
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