憎い
Japanese
| Kanji in this term |
|---|
| 憎 |
| にく Grade: S |
| kun'yomi |
| Alternative spellings |
|---|
| 憎い (kyūjitai) 悪い |
Etymology
From Old Japanese. Cognate with 憎む (nikumu, “to hate”), 難い (-nikui, “difficult [to do]”, verb suffix).
Pronunciation
- Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of 憎い
| Plain | 憎い | にくい | [nìkúꜜì] |
|---|---|---|---|
| Conjunctive | 憎くて | にくくて にくくて |
[nìkúꜜkùtè] [níꜜkùkùtè] |
| Continuative | 憎く | にくく にくく |
[nìkúꜜkù] [níꜜkùkù] |
| Negative | 憎くない | にくくない にくくない |
[nìkúꜜkù nàì] [níꜜkùkù nàì] |
| Past | 憎かった | にくかった にくかった |
[nìkúꜜkàttà] [níꜜkùkàttà] |
| Negative past | 憎くなかった | にくくなかった にくくなかった |
[nìkúꜜkù nàkàttà] [níꜜkùkù nàkàttà] |
| Conditional | 憎ければ | にくければ にくければ |
[nìkúꜜkèrèbà] [níꜜkùkèrèbà] |
| Terminal | 憎い | にくい | [nìkúꜜì] |
| Formal | 憎いです | にくいです | [nìkúꜜì dèsù] |
Adjective
憎い • (nikui) -i (adverbial 憎く (nikuku))
- hateful, detestable, abominable
- Ise Monogatari (The Tales of Ise), late 800s to early 900s:
- されどにくゝはたあらざりけり。
- Saredo nikuku hata arazarikeri.
- But no one thought him dislikeable.
- → Note that the negative connotations have strengthened over time. The older meaning was milder, closer to dislikeable than the modern hateful.
- Saredo nikuku hata arazarikeri.
- されどにくゝはたあらざりけり。
- Ise Monogatari (The Tales of Ise), late 800s to early 900s:
Inflection
| Stem forms | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Imperfective (未然形) | 憎かろ | にくかろ | nikukaro |
| Continuative (連用形) | 憎く | にくく | nikuku |
| Terminal (終止形) | 憎い | にくい | nikui |
| Attributive (連体形) | 憎い | にくい | nikui |
| Hypothetical (仮定形) | 憎けれ | にくけれ | nikukere |
| Imperative (命令形) | 憎かれ | にくかれ | nikukare |
| Key constructions | |||
| Informal negative | 憎くない | にくくない | nikuku nai |
| Informal past | 憎かった | にくかった | nikukatta |
| Informal negative past | 憎くなかった | にくくなかった | nikuku nakatta |
| Formal | 憎いです | にくいです | nikui desu |
| Formal negative | 憎くないです | にくくないです | nikuku nai desu |
| Formal past | 憎かったです | にくかったです | nikukatta desu |
| Formal negative past | 憎くなかったです | にくくなかったです | nikuku nakatta desu |
| Conjunctive | 憎くて | にくくて | nikukute |
| Conditional | 憎ければ | にくければ | nikukereba |
| Provisional | 憎かったら | にくかったら | nikukattara |
| Volitional | 憎かろう | にくかろう | nikukarō |
| Adverbial | 憎く | にくく | nikuku |
| Degree | 憎さ | にくさ | nikusa |
Antonyms
Derived terms
- 憎む (nikumu): to hate, abhor, detest
- 難い (nikui): suffix attaching to the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of a verb, denoting difficulty
- 坊主憎けりゃ袈裟まで憎い (bōzu nikukerya kesa made nikui): "hate a monk, and you will hate his very robes"
References
- ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
- ^ 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), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN
- “憎い”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia][1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2026