引く

• 読み: ひく
• ローマ字: hiku
• 漢字の分解: 引 (pull/draw back) → figuratively recoiling from something off-putting
• 発音: /hi.kɯ/

意味

To be put off, taken aback, or repelled — describes the instinctive recoil when encountering something off-putting.

In slang, 引く (literally 'to pull/draw back') means to be involuntarily repelled by something someone said or did. It describes that moment when you physically or mentally recoil because someone crossed a line of social acceptability. The intensified form ドン引き (don-biki, severely put off) is extremely common and indicates an even stronger reaction. It is one of the most natural ways to express 'that was a turn-off' in Japanese.

例文

1. 初デートでいきなり年収聞いてきて引いた。
2. あの発言はさすがにドン引きだわ。
3. 引くレベルの食べ方してて一緒に食事したくない。

使い方ガイド

場面: friends, dating, casual conversation, social media

トーン: repelled, uncomfortable, judging

正しい言い方

• さすがに引くわ。 (That's genuinely off-putting.)
• あれ見てドン引きした。 (I was completely put off seeing that.)

避ける言い方

• 面と向かって「引くわ」は相手を強く拒絶する表現 (Saying 'hiku wa' to someone's face is a strong expression of rejection)

よくある間違い

• Not learning ドン引き alongside 引く — ドン引き is equally common and important
• Using 引く only for negative things — it specifically means being put off, not just disliking something

起源と歴史

From the standard verb 引く (hiku, to pull/draw back). The figurative meaning of being repelled or recoiling emerged naturally from the physical action of pulling away. The compound ドン引き (heavily pulled back) amplifies the reaction. Widespread in casual speech since at least the 2000s.

文化的背景

時代: 2000s mainstream slang adoption

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal informal

地域メモ: Used nationwide. ドン引き is the intensified compound form and is equally widespread.