The Meaning of kitsui [きつい] In Japanese

きつい
きつい
Romaji: kitsui N4

What does きつい mean?

Translation and Meaning

tough, harsh, severe, difficult, tight, strong (smell or flavor), punishing

Definition

What does きつい mean? It denotes something that is tough or intense, signaling high effort, severity, or a strong sensory impact, and it can describe tasks, environments, people, or experiences as demanding or formidable.

Type

adjective (i-adjective)

Stroke Order

Meanings

  • harsh, strict in tone or rules
  • physically or mentally demanding or difficult
  • tight or constricting in fit or space
  • strong in flavor or odor
  • exhausting or punishing due to workload or circumstances

Usage

Used as an i-adjective in casual to semi-formal contexts to describe toughness, difficulty, or intensity. It can modify nouns directly (きつい練習, きつい仕事) or describe conditions and sensory input (においがきつい, 味がきつい). The polite form is きついです and the adverbial form is きつく感じる.
💡 Tips
Mnemonic: imagine a shirt that is so tight you have to squeeze into it; the sounds kit-sui cue you to think of tightness and toughness, helping recall that きつい covers both physical tightness and mental/situational intensity.

Variations

  • 辛い (つらい) — tsurai — emotionally painful
  • 過酷な (かこくな) — kakoku na — harsh, gruelling
  • 激しい (はげしい) — hageshii — intense
  • 厳しい (きびしい) — kibishii — strict, severe
  • 対義語: 優しい (やさしい) — yasashii — gentle

Example Phrases

  • 今日は 仕事 が 多くて きつい がんばる ぞ。
    Kyou wa shigoto ga ookute kitsui ganbaru zo.
    Today the workload is heavy; it’s tough, but I’ll do my best.
    Lista:
    • 今日は (Kyou wa) – direct translation in en
    • 仕事 (shigoto) – direct translation in en
    • が (ga) – direct translation in en
    • 多くて (ookute) – direct translation in en
    • きつい (kitsui) – direct translation in en
    • がんばる (ganbaru) – direct translation in en
    • ぞ (zo) – direct translation in en
    Here 「きつい」 is an i-adjective meaning ‘tough’; it describes the resulting state after the te-form 「多くて」.
きつい