醜い

Japanese

Kanji in this term
醜
みにく Grade: S
kun'yomi

Alternative spellings
見悪い見難い見にくい

Etymology

Compound of 見 (mi, “seeing, looking”, the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of verb 見る (miru, “to see, to look at”)) +‎ 難い (nikui, “hard to do, difficult”), with a literal meaning of “hard to look at” or “difficult to see”.^[1]^[2]

Pronunciation

(Tokyo) みにくい [mìníkúꜜì] (Nakadaka – [3])^[2]^[3]
IPA^(key): [mʲiɲ̟ikɯ̟i]

Tokyo pitch accent of inflected forms of 醜い

Plain	醜い	みにくい	`[mìníkúꜜì]`
Conjunctive	醜くて	みにくくてみにくくて	`[mìníkúꜜkùtè]` `[mìníꜜkùkùtè]`
Continuative	醜く	みにくくみにくく	`[mìníkúꜜkù]` `[mìníꜜkùkù]`
Negative	醜くない	みにくくないみにくくない	`[mìníkúꜜkù nàì]` `[mìníꜜkùkù nàì]`
Past	醜かった	みにくかったみにくかった	`[mìníkúꜜkàttà]` `[mìníꜜkùkàttà]`
Negative past	醜くなかった	みにくくなかったみにくくなかった	`[mìníkúꜜkù nàkàttà]` `[mìníꜜkùkù nàkàttà]`
Conditional	醜ければ	みにくければみにくければ	`[mìníkúꜜkèrèbà]` `[mìníꜜkùkèrèbà]`
Terminal	醜い	みにくい	`[mìníkúꜜì]`
Formal	醜いです	みにくいです	`[mìníkúꜜì dèsù]`

Adjective

醜(みにく)い • (minikui) -i (adverbial 醜(みにく)く (minikuku))

ugly
ignoble, mean, shabby, vile, vulgar
difficult to distinguish, hard to make out

Usage notes

The 見難い spelling is more common for the “difficult to distinguish” sense.

Inflection

Inflection of 醜い

Stem forms
Imperfective (未然形)	醜かろ	みにくかろ	minikukaro
Continuative (連用形)	醜く	みにくく	minikuku
Terminal (終止形)	醜い	みにくい	minikui
Attributive (連体形)	醜い	みにくい	minikui
Hypothetical (仮定形)	醜けれ	みにくけれ	minikukere
Imperative (命令形)	醜かれ	みにくかれ	minikukare
Key constructions
Informal negative	醜くない	みにくくない	minikuku nai
Informal past	醜かった	みにくかった	minikukatta
Informal negative past	醜くなかった	みにくくなかった	minikuku nakatta
Formal	醜いです	みにくいです	minikui desu
Formal negative	醜くないです	みにくくないです	minikuku nai desu
Formal past	醜かったです	みにくかったです	minikukatta desu
Formal negative past	醜くなかったです	みにくくなかったです	minikuku nakatta desu
Conjunctive	醜くて	みにくくて	minikukute
Conditional	醜ければ	みにくければ	minikukereba
Provisional	醜かったら	みにくかったら	minikukattara
Volitional	醜かろう	みにくかろう	minikukarō
Adverbial	醜く	みにくく	minikuku
Degree	醜さ	みにくさ	minikusa

Synonyms

(mean): 卑(いや)しい (iyashii), 汚(きたな)い (kitanai), 見窄(みすぼ)らしい (misuborashii)

Antonyms

(antonym(s) of “ugly”): 美(うつく)しい (utsukushii, “beautiful”)
(antonym(s) of “mean”): 素晴(すば)らしい (subarashii, “noble”)

References

^ Shōgaku Tosho (1988), 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN
^ 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

“醜い”, in 漢字ぺディア [Kanjipedia]‎^[1] (in Japanese), The Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, 2015–2025

[KDJ-1] Shōgaku Tosho (1988), 国語大辞典（新装版） [Unabridged Dictionary of Japanese (Revised Edition)] (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan, →ISBN

[DJR-2] 2.0 ^2.1 Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN

[NHK-3] 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

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