き JLPT N1 Vocabulary

Kana き

1. 揮発 きはつ Volatilisation; evaporation. The process by which a substance changes from liquid or solid phase to vapour at relatively low temperatures.
2. 吸着 きゅうちゃく Adsorption; the adhesion of atoms, ions, or molecules from a gas, liquid, or dissolved solid to a surface, forming a thin film.
3. 極性 きょくせい Polarity; the separation of electric charge, leading to a molecule or bond having a positive and a negative end.
4. 近似 きんじ Approximation; an estimate or representation that is close to, but not exactly equal to, the true value or form.
5. 決め台詞 きめぜりふ Catchphrase; signature line; killer line. A memorable phrase associated with a particular person, character, or role.
6. 曲解 きょっかい Misinterpretation; distortion; twisting of meaning. Deliberately or carelessly construing something contrary to its intent.
7. 峡谷 きょうこく Gorge; canyon; ravine. A deep, narrow valley carved by erosion, typically with steep rocky walls on both sides.
8. 共棲 きょうせい Symbiosis; living together. The biological relationship in which two or more species live in close physical association to mutual or part...
9. 局地的 きょくちてき Local; localised; regional. Restricted to or occurring in a specific, limited geographic area rather than widespread.
10. 気丈 きじょう Brave; stout-hearted; strong-willed; mentally resilient. Describes someone who faces hardship with quiet inner strength and composed dign...
11. 奇怪 きっかい Strange; bizarre; mysterious; grotesque. Describes something deeply unsettling or incomprehensibly odd, beyond mere strangeness into the ...
12. 木で鼻を括る きではなをくくる To respond in a blunt, curt, or coldly dismissive manner. Describes someone who treats a genuine request or approach with indifferent con...
13. きな臭い きなくさい Smelling of something burning; suspicious; having the ominous whiff of danger or imminent conflict. Both literal and figurative senses ar...
14. 希薄 きはく Thin; dilute; sparse; weak; faint. Describes concentration, density, or intensity that is insufficiently strong — whether in a physical m...
15. 奇抜 きばつ Eccentric; novel; unconventional; strikingly original. Describes ideas, designs, or behaviour that are unusually creative and far outside...
16. 気まずい きまずい Awkward; uncomfortable; strained. Describes the tense, unnatural atmosphere between people when something has gone wrong or remains unres...
17. 興ざめ きょうざめ Anticlimax; mood-killer; something that abruptly deflates enthusiasm or spoils the atmosphere. Can describe both an event and the resulti...
18. 旧石器 きゅうせっき Palaeolithic; of or relating to the Old Stone Age, the earliest period of human prehistory characterised by the use of chipped stone tools.
19. 旧暦 きゅうれき The old calendar; the traditional lunisolar calendar used in Japan before the Meiji era, based on the Chinese lunisolar system.
20. 機運 きうん Momentum; the right opportunity; an auspicious current of events building towards change. Suggests a confluence of circumstances ripe for...
21. 危惧 きぐ Apprehension; misgiving; serious concern or anxiety about a potential negative outcome. Implies genuine dread about a future risk.
22. 詭計 きけい Trick; stratagem; a cunning ruse or deceptive scheme designed to mislead or manipulate others for one's own ends.
23. 機軸 きじく Pivot; axis; mainstay; the central principle or core mechanism around which something is organised or upon which it depends.
24. 帰趨 きすう Outcome; ultimate conclusion; the direction or drift towards which something tends to settle. Implies the eventual resolution of a matter.
25. 軌跡 きせき Trajectory; locus; the path traced by a moving point. Figuratively, the record of one's achievements, progress, or the course of a life o...
26. 奇想天外 きそうてんがい Wildly original; outlandishly bizarre; so fantastically unexpected as to seem beyond the heavens. Describes ideas or works that are start...
27. 拮抗 きっこう Being evenly matched; antagonism; the state of two forces, competitors, or ideas holding each other in check through roughly equal strength.
28. 機微 きび Subtlety; nuance; the delicate fine points of human psychology, social dynamics, or a situation. Implies sensitivity to what is not expli...
29. 気風 きふう Temperament; prevailing spirit; the characteristic ethos or collective disposition of a group, region, or era.
30. 窮状 きゅうじょう Difficult situation; plight; a state of extreme hardship or distress. Used to describe desperate circumstances of individuals, communitie...
31. 窮地 きゅうち Predicament; dilemma; a desperate situation from which there is no obvious escape. Implies being cornered with severely limited options.
32. 脅威 きょうい Threat; menace; a force or situation posing a serious danger to security, stability, or well-being.
33. 境地 きょうち State of mind; a level of inner attainment or awareness reached through experience or mastery. Also refers to a physical territory or dom...
34. 興味深い きょうみぶかい Very interesting; profoundly fascinating; intriguing in a way that stimulates sustained intellectual curiosity or deeper reflection.
35. 虚偽 きょぎ Falsehood; deception; a deliberate lie or fabrication. Used in formal and legal contexts to describe intentionally false statements.
36. 虚構 きょこう Fiction; fabrication; a constructed narrative or reality that is not factual. Refers both to literary fiction and to deliberately maintai...
37. 虚飾 きょしょく Ostentation; empty pretension; hollow display or affectation without genuine substance. Describes presenting oneself or something falsely...
38. 虚無 きょむ Nihility; nothingness; a profound void or emptiness. Refers to the absence of meaning, value, or existence itself.
39. 際立つ きわだつ To stand out; to be conspicuous; to be strikingly prominent in comparison to one's surroundings.
40. 極めて きわめて Extremely; exceedingly; to the utmost degree. An emphatic adverb indicating the highest possible level of intensity or significance.
41. 凶暴 きょうぼう Ferocious; brutal; savage; violent. Describes a dangerously aggressive nature in people, animals, or behaviour.
42. 強烈 きょうれつ Intense; strong; powerful; overwhelming. Used to describe a stimulus, impression, or force that is difficult to ignore or resist.
43. 際立った きわだった Conspicuous; striking; outstanding; remarkable. Used attributively before nouns to describe something that stands out clearly from its su...
44. 際どい きわどい Risky; borderline; close; narrow; risqué. Describes a situation or content that is right at the edge of acceptability, safety, or success.
45. 基軸通貨 きじくつうか Key currency; reserve currency. A currency that is widely used in international trade, investment, and foreign exchange reserves, most no...
46. 供給 きょうきゅう Supply; provision. The amount of a good or service made available to buyers in a market at a given time.
47. 恐慌 きょうこう Panic; financial crisis; great depression. A severe, widespread economic downturn characterised by bank failures, mass unemployment, and ...
48. 競売 きょうばい Auction; competitive bidding. A method of selling goods or assets in which prospective buyers submit bids, with the item going to the hig...
49. 金融緩和 きんゆうかんわ Monetary easing; quantitative easing. A central bank policy of loosening monetary conditions, typically by lowering interest rates or exp...
50. 金融引き締め きんゆうひきしめ Monetary tightening; credit squeeze. A central bank policy of tightening monetary conditions, typically by raising interest rates or redu...
51. 紀行文 きこうぶん Travel essay; travelogue; a literary work recording experiences, observations, and reflections from a journey.
52. 起承転結 きしょうてんけつ Four-part structural framework for essays and stories: introduction, development, turn, conclusion. A classical rhetorical structure orig...
53. 奇譚 きたん Strange tale; fantastic story; a narrative involving supernatural, eerie, or extraordinary events.
54. 詭弁 きべん Sophistry; specious argument; reasoning that appears valid on the surface but is logically flawed or deliberately misleading.
55. 脚色 きゃくしょく Dramatisation; adaptation; the process of reworking source material for stage or screen. Also used figuratively to mean embellishment of ...
56. 狂歌 きょうか Kyoka; comic waka; a humorous or satirical poem written in the classical 5-7-5-7-7 tanka metre.
57. 金言 きんげん Golden saying; wise saying; maxim; a memorable and profound piece of wisdom expressed concisely.
58. 既往症 きおうしょう Medical history; pre-existing condition; illnesses or conditions a patient has previously had.
59. 拒食 きょしょく Food refusal; anorexia; the act of refusing or being unable to eat.
60. 禁忌 きんき Contraindication; prohibition; something that must be strictly avoided due to danger, medical risk, or cultural taboo.
61. 禁断症状 きんだんしょうじょう Withdrawal symptoms; the physical or psychological symptoms that appear when an addictive substance or behaviour is suddenly stopped.
62. 切り盛り きりもり Management; running; keeping things going. The hands-on running of a household, business, or organisation.
63. 帰化 きか Naturalisation; becoming a citizen. The legal process by which a foreigner acquires citizenship.
64. 挙国 きょこく Whole nation; national; country-wide. Involving or representing the entire nation.
65. 挙党 きょとう United party; whole party; all-party. Involving or representing an entire political party.
66. 拒否権 きょひけん Veto power; right of veto. The authority to block or reject a decision or resolution.
67. 挙兵 きょへい Raising an army; taking up arms. The act of mobilising military force, especially in rebellion or uprising.
68. 居留地 きょりゅうち Foreign settlement; concession; reservation. An area officially designated for foreign nationals to reside and conduct business.
69. 勤王 きんのう Loyalty to the emperor; imperial loyalism. The political stance of supporting and serving the emperor's cause.
70. 帰依 きえ Devotion; spiritual conversion; taking refuge in the Three Jewels of Buddhism — the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha.
71. 棄民 きみん Abandoned people; citizens or subjects forsaken by the state or ruling authority, left without protection, support, or recognition.
72. 教育委員会 きょういくいいんかい Board of education; the administrative body overseeing public education at the prefectural or municipal level in Japan.
73. 教化 きょうか Edification; moral instruction and enlightenment. The process of guiding people toward ethical, spiritual, or intellectual improvement.
74. 恐喝 きょうかつ Blackmail; extortion; the act of threatening someone to obtain money, property, or compliance through fear and intimidation.
75. 強権 きょうけん Coercive power; strong-arm authority; power exercised forcefully without regard for individual rights or consent.
76. 共助 きょうじょ Mutual aid; the principle of people helping each other within a community or group, as one of the three pillars of social support alongsi...
77. 共生 きょうせい Coexistence; symbiosis; the state of different individuals, communities, or species living together in mutual harmony or interdependence.
78. 矯正 きょうせい Correction; the act of rectifying a fault, deviation, or criminal behaviour. Also used for orthodontic treatment and physical correction ...
79. 共同体 きょうどうたい Community; a group of people sharing common interests, geography, identity, or purpose and functioning as a cohesive collective unit.
80. 共犯 きょうはん Complicity; joint crime; participation in a criminal act alongside another person. Also refers to an accomplice or co-offender.
81. 恐怖政治 きょうふせいじ Reign of terror; a system of governance maintained through violence, intimidation, and fear rather than consent, law, or legitimacy.
82. 極刑 きょっけい Capital punishment; the most severe penalty available under the law; the death sentence.
83. 近代化 きんだいか Modernisation; the transformation of a society, institution, or system in accordance with modern standards of technology, economy, govern...
84. 禁輸 きんゆ Embargo; ban on exports or imports. A formal prohibition on trade with a specific country or in specific goods.
85. 禁令 きんれい Prohibition; ban; edict; decree. An official order forbidding a specific act or behaviour.
86. 気負い きおい Eagerness; being psyched up; over-enthusiasm. The state of being wound too tight before a challenge, often to the point of being counterp...
87. 気概 きがい Spirit; backbone; mettle; resolve. The inner fortitude and determined will to confront hardship without flinching.
88. 喜怒哀楽 きどあいらく Human emotions; the full spectrum of feelings represented as joy, anger, grief, and pleasure. A four-character compound (yojijukugo) enco...
89. 気恥ずかしい きはずかしい Embarrassing; shy; bashful; self-conscious. A mild, inward-looking embarrassment that arises from being the focus of attention or revisit...
90. 驚愕 きょうがく Astonishment; shock; amazement. An overwhelming state of being stunned by something utterly unexpected.
91. 恐縮 きょうしゅく Feeling obliged; being sorry; deeply grateful and apologetic. A polite expression of being humbled and overwhelmed by another's kindness ...
92. 驚嘆 きょうたん Amazement; admiration; wonder. A sense of being struck with awe and deep admiration at something extraordinary.
93. 虚脱 きょだつ Prostration; collapse; despondency; lethargy. A state of complete emotional or physical emptiness following intense exertion, shock, or d...
94. 刻む きざむ To carve; to engrave; to mince (food); to mark or beat (time); to imprint deeply in the mind or heart.
95. 築き上げる きずきあげる To build up over time; to construct and accumulate through sustained effort; to establish something substantial from nothing.
96. 競う きそう To compete; to vie with others; to strive against rivals for superiority, a prize, or recognition.
97. 鍛える きたえる To forge or temper metal; to train and strengthen the body; to discipline and harden the mind through rigorous practice.
98. 気遣う きづかう To worry about someone; to be solicitous of another's wellbeing; to take care to attend to another's feelings or needs out of consideration.
99. 糾弾する きゅうだんする To denounce; to condemn publicly; to call someone to account for wrongdoing; to censure with strong moral force.
100. 切り替える きりかえる To switch over; to convert from one mode to another; to change over; to mentally shift gears.
101. 切り崩す きりくずす To break down bit by bit; to wear away; to undermine; to gradually chip away at an opposing majority, resistance, or position.
102. 切り捨てる きりすてる To cut down (as a swordsman); to discard; to abandon without regret; to truncate in mathematics; to dismiss a person, idea, or option ent...
103. 切り詰める きりつめる To cut down drastically; to economise; to reduce expenditure; to shorten or compress a document, schedule, or period.
104. 切り開く きりひらく To clear land by cutting through vegetation; to pioneer a new path or field; to open up new possibilities where none existed.
105. 極める きわめる To reach the utmost point of; to master to the highest degree; to investigate thoroughly; to push something to its absolute limit.