にくい

• 読み: にくい
• ローマ字: nikui
• 発音: /ni.kɯ.i/

意味

Hard to; difficult to. A suffix attached to verb stems to express difficulty.

An i-adjective suffix attached to the masu-stem of verbs to create compound adjectives meaning 'hard/difficult to do.' For example: 読みにくい (hard to read), 食べにくい (hard to eat), 分かりにくい (hard to understand). The opposite suffix is やすい (easy to). Conjugates as a regular i-adjective: にくかった (was hard to), にくくない (not hard to).

例文

1. この字は小さくて読みにくいです。
2. 箸で豆を食べるのは食べにくいです。
3. この説明は分かりにくいと思います。

使い方ガイド

場面: descriptions, complaints, evaluations

トーン: neutral

起源と歴史

Derives from the adjective 憎い (nikui, hateful/detestable). The connection is that something 'hateful' to do became something 'hard' to do — difficulty being an unpleasant quality. The suffix form is always written in hiragana.

文化的背景

時代: Classical

世代: All ages

社会的背景: Universal