The Meaning of hidoi [酷い] In Japanese

酷い
ひどい
Romaji: hidoi N5

What does 酷い mean?

Translation and Meaning

cruel, terrible, severe, atrocious, awful

Definition

酷い means extremely bad or severe; a common Japanese i-adjective used to describe negative qualities in people, situations, or conditions, and it can modify nouns directly or appear predicatively.

Type

adjective (形容詞, i-adjective)

Stroke Order

Meanings

  • Describes something that is very bad in quality, condition, or impact
  • Conveys cruelty or harshness in behavior or treatment
  • Used as an intensifier when forming the adverbial form 酷く before verbs/adjectives
  • Common collocations refer to weather, events, or experiences

Etymology

酷い is built from the kanji 酷 with the native adjective ending い, yielding an i-adjective with the reading hidoi; there is no notable historical phonetic shift in modern usage.

Composition

  • 酷: harsh, severe
  • い: adjective ending turning it into an i-adjective
  • When combined, they form an adjective that expresses an extreme negative quality

Usage

Used in casual speech and informal writing to express strong disapproval or describe negative states; can modify nouns or appear predicatively; adverbial form 酷く attaches before adjectives or verbs to intensify.
💡 Tips
Mnemonic: imagine a stern, scowling figure (酷) judging everything; the final い turns that harsh impression into a true i-adjective describing things as very bad.

Variations

  • 残酷な (zankokuna) — cruel
  • 酷く (hidoku) — adverbial form meaning extremely
  • 良い (yoi) — good (antonym in many contexts)

Example Phrases

  • 店の対応が酷いので、私は二度と来ない。
    Mise no taio ga hidoi node, watashi wa nidoto konai.
    The store’s service was terrible, so I won’t come back.
    Lista:
    • 店 (mise) – shop
    • の (no) – of
    • 対応 (taio) – service
    • が (ga) – subject marker
    • 酷い (hidoi) – terrible
    • ので (node) – because
    • 私 (watashi) – I
    • は (wa) – topic marker
    • 二度と (nidoto) – never again
    • 来ない (konai) – won’t come
    In this sentence, 「酷い」 is an i-adjective meaning ‘terrible’ that directly modifies 「対応」. The phrase 「店の対応が酷いので」 uses ので to express cause, meaning ‘Because the store’s service is terrible’.
酷い