怖い

• Reading: こわい
• Romaji: kowai
• Kanji breakdown: 怖 (kowa/fu) — scary, frightening, fearful
• Pronunciation: /ko.wa.i/

Meaning

Scary; frightening; eerie; dreadful. Describes something that causes fear.

An i-adjective used both for things that are scary (怖い映画, a scary movie) and for the feeling of being scared (怖いです, I am scared). This dual usage — describing both the source of fear and the experiencer — is natural in Japanese. Conjugates regularly: 怖くない, 怖かった, 怖くなかった.

Examples

1. あの映画はとても怖かったです。 That movie was really scary.
2. 暗い所が怖いです。 I'm scared of dark places.
3. 怖い話を聞きました。 I heard a scary story.

Usage Guide

Context: daily life, emotions, stories

Tone: negative

Origin & History

From Old Japanese. The kanji 怖 combines the heart radical 忄 with 布 (cloth), possibly alluding to the way fear makes the heart feel constricted or covered.

Cultural Context

Era: Ancient

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal