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憎い

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Japanese

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Kanji in this term
にく
Grade: S
kun'yomi
Alternative spellings
憎い (kyūjitai)
悪い

Etymology

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From Old Japanese. Cognate with 憎む (nikumu, to hate), 難い (-nikui, difficult [to do], verb suffix).

Pronunciation

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  • Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of 「憎い
Source: Online Japanese Accent Dictionary
Stem forms
Continuative (連用形) 憎く くく
[níꜜkùkù]
[nìkúꜜkù]
Terminal (終止形) 憎い [nìkúꜜì]
Attributive (連体形) 憎い [nìkúꜜì]
Key constructions
Informal negative 憎くない くくない
くない
[níꜜkùkùnàì]
[nìkúꜜkùnàì]
Informal past 憎かった くかった
かった
[níꜜkùkàttà]
[nìkúꜜkàttà]
Informal negative past 憎くなかった くくなかった
くなかった
[níꜜkùkùnàkàttà]
[nìkúꜜkùnàkàttà]
Formal 憎いです いです [nìkúꜜìdèsù]
Conjunctive 憎くて くくて
くて
[níꜜkùkùtè]
[nìkúꜜkùtè]
Conditional 憎ければ くければ
ければ
[níꜜkùkèrèbà]
[nìkúꜜkèrèbà]

Adjective

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(にく) (nikui-i (adverbial (にく) (nikuku))

  1. hateful, detestable, abominable
    • Ise Monogatari (The Tales of Ise), late 800s to early 900s:
      されどにくゝはたあらざりけり。
      Saredo nikuku hata arazarikeri.
      But no one thought him dislikeable.
      → Note that the negative connotations have strengthened over time. The older meaning was milder, closer to dislikeable than the modern hateful.

Inflection

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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References

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  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
  2. ^ NHK Broadcasting Culture Research Institute, editor (1998), NHK日本語発音アクセント辞典 [NHK Japanese Pronunciation Accent Dictionary] (in Japanese), Tokyo: NHK Publishing, Inc., →ISBN