良い

• Reading: よい
• Romaji: yoi
• Kanji breakdown: 良 (yo/ryou) — good, fine, excellent
• Pronunciation: /jo.i/

Meaning

Good; excellent; fine; nice; pleasant. One of the most essential adjectives in Japanese.

An i-adjective with an irregular spoken form: いい is used in the dictionary/present tense, while conjugated forms use the よ- stem: よくない (not good), よかった (was good), よくなかった (was not good). 良い (よい) is the formal written form. Both いい and 良い are correct, but いい is far more common in conversation.

Examples

1. 今日はいい天気ですね。 It's nice weather today, isn't it?
2. この本はとてもよかったです。 This book was really good.
3. 先生はいい人です。 The teacher is a good person.

Usage Guide

Context: daily life, descriptions, evaluations

Tone: positive

Origin & History

From Old Japanese. The kanji 良 originally depicted a corridor with good ventilation, symbolising something well-made or of good quality.

Cultural Context

Era: Ancient

Generation: All ages

Social background: Universal