See 怖い in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"derived": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"roman": "kowasa",
"ruby": [
[
"怖",
"こわ"
]
],
"tags": [
"noun"
],
"word": "怖さ"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Semantic shift from Classical Japanese 強し (kofashi, “stiff; strong; tough”), modern 強い (kowai). A folk etymology from the Ehon Hyaku Monogatari derives it from 狐者異 (kowai, literally “ghost of a glutton”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "怖い",
"ruby": [
[
"怖",
"こわ"
]
],
"tags": [
"canonical"
]
},
{
"form": "kowai",
"tags": [
"romanization"
]
},
{
"form": "kofai",
"tags": [
"romanization"
]
},
{
"form": "怖く",
"roman": "kowaku",
"ruby": [
[
"怖",
"こわ"
]
],
"tags": [
"adverbial"
]
},
{
"form": "no-table-tags",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"table-tags"
]
},
{
"form": "ja-i",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"inflection-template"
]
},
{
"form": "怖かろ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"imperfective",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "こわかろ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"imperfective",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakaro",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
]
},
{
"form": "怖く",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"continuative",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "こわく",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"continuative",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "kowaku",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"continuative"
]
},
{
"form": "怖い",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"stem",
"terminative"
]
},
{
"form": "こわい",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"stem",
"terminative"
]
},
{
"form": "kowai",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"terminative"
]
},
{
"form": "怖い",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"attributive",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "こわい",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"attributive",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "kowai",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"attributive"
]
},
{
"form": "怖けれ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"hypothetical",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "こわけれ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"hypothetical",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakere",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"hypothetical"
]
},
{
"form": "怖かれ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"imperative",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "こわかれ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"imperative",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakare",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"imperative"
]
},
{
"form": "怖くない",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"negative"
]
},
{
"form": "こわくない",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"negative"
]
},
{
"form": "kowaku nai",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"negative"
]
},
{
"form": "怖かった",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "こわかった",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakatta",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "怖くなかった",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"negative",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "こわくなかった",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"negative",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "kowaku nakatta",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"negative",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "怖いです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal"
]
},
{
"form": "こわいです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal"
]
},
{
"form": "kowai desu",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal"
]
},
{
"form": "怖くないです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"negative"
]
},
{
"form": "こわくないです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"negative"
]
},
{
"form": "kowaku nai desu",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"negative"
]
},
{
"form": "怖かったです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "こわかったです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakatta desu",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "怖くなかったです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"negative",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "こわくなかったです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"negative",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "kowaku nakatta desu",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"negative",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "怖くて",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conjunctive"
]
},
{
"form": "こわくて",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conjunctive"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakute",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conjunctive"
]
},
{
"form": "怖ければ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conditional"
]
},
{
"form": "こわければ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conditional"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakereba",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conditional"
]
},
{
"form": "怖かったら",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conditional",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "こわかったら",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conditional",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakattara",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conditional",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "怖かろう",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"volitional"
]
},
{
"form": "こわかろう",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"volitional"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakarō",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"volitional"
]
},
{
"form": "怖く",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"adverbial"
]
},
{
"form": "こわく",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"adverbial"
]
},
{
"form": "kowaku",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"adverbial"
]
},
{
"form": "怖さ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"noun-from-adj"
]
},
{
"form": "こわさ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"noun-from-adj"
]
},
{
"form": "kowasa",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"noun-from-adj"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "こわい",
"hhira": "こはい",
"infl": "i"
},
"expansion": "怖(こわ)い • (kowai) ^(←こはい (kofai)?)-i (adverbial 怖(こわ)く (kowaku))",
"name": "ja-adj"
}
],
"inflection_templates": [
{
"args": {
"adverbial": "く",
"attributive": "い",
"conditional": "ければ",
"conjunctive": "くて",
"continuative": "く",
"degree": "さ",
"formal": "い です",
"formal_negative": "く ない です",
"formal_negative_past": "く なかった です",
"formal_past": "かった です",
"hypothetical": "けれ",
"imperative": "かれ",
"imperfective": "かろ",
"informal_negative": "く ない",
"informal_negative_past": "く なかった",
"informal_past": "かった",
"kana": "こわ",
"lemma": "怖",
"provisional": "かったら",
"terminal": "い",
"volitional": "かろう"
},
"name": "ja-adj-infl"
}
],
"lang": "Japanese",
"lang_code": "ja",
"pos": "adj",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"english": "Ghosts are frightening.",
"roman": "Yūrei wa kowai.",
"ruby": [
[
"幽",
"ゆう"
],
[
"霊",
"れい"
],
[
"怖",
"こわ"
]
],
"text": "幽霊は怖い。",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"frightening, scary, terrifying"
],
"id": "en-怖い-ja-adj-6IgIU3~J",
"links": [
[
"frightening",
"frightening"
],
[
"scary",
"scary"
],
[
"terrifying",
"terrifying"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"english": "Hakata dialect",
"word": "えずい"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"english": "afraid of the consequences",
"roman": "ato ga kowai",
"ruby": [
[
"怖",
"こわ"
]
],
"text": "あとが怖い",
"type": "example"
},
{
"english": "What’s wrong, scared?",
"ref": "2015, バットマン アーカム・ナイト [Batman: Arkham Knight], spoken by Batman (Shinshū Fuji), Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, via Rocksteady Studios:",
"roman": "Dōshita kowai no ka?",
"ruby": [
[
"怖",
"こわ"
]
],
"text": "どうした 怖いのか？",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"frightened, scared, afraid"
],
"id": "en-怖い-ja-adj-Q7XjQkne",
"links": [
[
"frightened",
"frightened"
],
[
"scared",
"scared"
],
[
"afraid",
"afraid"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "恐ろしい"
},
{
"word": "おっかない"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "15 11 74",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Japanese entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "12 9 80",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Japanese links with manual fragments",
"parents": [
"Links with manual fragments",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 7 83",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Japanese links with redundant alt parameters",
"parents": [
"Links with redundant alt parameters",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "10 7 83",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Japanese links with redundant wikilinks",
"parents": [
"Links with redundant wikilinks",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "33 24 44",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Japanese terms with 1 kanji",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "9 7 84",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Japanese terms with redundant sortkeys",
"parents": [
"Terms with redundant sortkeys",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "24 16 60",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "14 9 77",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "28 31 41",
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "ja",
"name": "Emotions",
"orig": "ja:Emotions",
"parents": [
"Mind",
"Human",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"english": "Habits can be scary.",
"literal_meaning": "Habits are a scary thing.",
"roman": "Shūkan to wa kowai mono da.",
"ruby": [
[
"習",
"しゅう"
],
[
"慣",
"かん"
],
[
"怖",
"こわ"
]
],
"text": "習慣とは怖いものだ。",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"creepy for its mysterious ability"
],
"id": "en-怖い-ja-adj-VPdJ1J9c",
"links": [
[
"creepy",
"creepy"
],
[
"mysterious",
"mysterious"
],
[
"ability",
"ability"
]
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"other": "こわい"
},
{
"ipa": "[ko̞β̞a̠i]"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"roman": "koē",
"word": "こええ"
},
{
"_dis1": "0 0 0",
"roman": "koē",
"tags": [
"informal"
],
"word": "こえぇ"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Daijisen#Online_search_engines"
],
"word": "怖い"
}
{
"categories": [
"Japanese adjectives",
"Japanese entries with incorrect language header",
"Japanese lemmas",
"Japanese links with manual fragments",
"Japanese links with redundant alt parameters",
"Japanese links with redundant wikilinks",
"Japanese terms spelled with secondary school kanji",
"Japanese terms with 1 kanji",
"Japanese terms with IPA pronunciation",
"Japanese terms with redundant sortkeys",
"Japanese い-i adjectives",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"ja:Emotions"
],
"derived": [
{
"roman": "kowasa",
"ruby": [
[
"怖",
"こわ"
]
],
"tags": [
"noun"
],
"word": "怖さ"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Semantic shift from Classical Japanese 強し (kofashi, “stiff; strong; tough”), modern 強い (kowai). A folk etymology from the Ehon Hyaku Monogatari derives it from 狐者異 (kowai, literally “ghost of a glutton”).",
"forms": [
{
"form": "怖い",
"ruby": [
[
"怖",
"こわ"
]
],
"tags": [
"canonical"
]
},
{
"form": "kowai",
"tags": [
"romanization"
]
},
{
"form": "kofai",
"tags": [
"romanization"
]
},
{
"form": "怖く",
"roman": "kowaku",
"ruby": [
[
"怖",
"こわ"
]
],
"tags": [
"adverbial"
]
},
{
"form": "no-table-tags",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"table-tags"
]
},
{
"form": "ja-i",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"inflection-template"
]
},
{
"form": "怖かろ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"imperfective",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "こわかろ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"imperfective",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakaro",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"imperfective"
]
},
{
"form": "怖く",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"continuative",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "こわく",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"continuative",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "kowaku",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"continuative"
]
},
{
"form": "怖い",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"stem",
"terminative"
]
},
{
"form": "こわい",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"stem",
"terminative"
]
},
{
"form": "kowai",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"terminative"
]
},
{
"form": "怖い",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"attributive",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "こわい",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"attributive",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "kowai",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"attributive"
]
},
{
"form": "怖けれ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"hypothetical",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "こわけれ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"hypothetical",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakere",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"hypothetical"
]
},
{
"form": "怖かれ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"imperative",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "こわかれ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"imperative",
"stem"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakare",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"imperative"
]
},
{
"form": "怖くない",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"negative"
]
},
{
"form": "こわくない",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"negative"
]
},
{
"form": "kowaku nai",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"negative"
]
},
{
"form": "怖かった",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "こわかった",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakatta",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "怖くなかった",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"negative",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "こわくなかった",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"negative",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "kowaku nakatta",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"informal",
"negative",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "怖いです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal"
]
},
{
"form": "こわいです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal"
]
},
{
"form": "kowai desu",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal"
]
},
{
"form": "怖くないです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"negative"
]
},
{
"form": "こわくないです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"negative"
]
},
{
"form": "kowaku nai desu",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"negative"
]
},
{
"form": "怖かったです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "こわかったです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakatta desu",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "怖くなかったです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"negative",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "こわくなかったです",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"negative",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "kowaku nakatta desu",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"formal",
"negative",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "怖くて",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conjunctive"
]
},
{
"form": "こわくて",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conjunctive"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakute",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conjunctive"
]
},
{
"form": "怖ければ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conditional"
]
},
{
"form": "こわければ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conditional"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakereba",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conditional"
]
},
{
"form": "怖かったら",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conditional",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "こわかったら",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conditional",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakattara",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"conditional",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "怖かろう",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"volitional"
]
},
{
"form": "こわかろう",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"volitional"
]
},
{
"form": "kowakarō",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"volitional"
]
},
{
"form": "怖く",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"adverbial"
]
},
{
"form": "こわく",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"adverbial"
]
},
{
"form": "kowaku",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"adverbial"
]
},
{
"form": "怖さ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"noun-from-adj"
]
},
{
"form": "こわさ",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"noun-from-adj"
]
},
{
"form": "kowasa",
"source": "inflection",
"tags": [
"noun-from-adj"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "こわい",
"hhira": "こはい",
"infl": "i"
},
"expansion": "怖(こわ)い • (kowai) ^(←こはい (kofai)?)-i (adverbial 怖(こわ)く (kowaku))",
"name": "ja-adj"
}
],
"inflection_templates": [
{
"args": {
"adverbial": "く",
"attributive": "い",
"conditional": "ければ",
"conjunctive": "くて",
"continuative": "く",
"degree": "さ",
"formal": "い です",
"formal_negative": "く ない です",
"formal_negative_past": "く なかった です",
"formal_past": "かった です",
"hypothetical": "けれ",
"imperative": "かれ",
"imperfective": "かろ",
"informal_negative": "く ない",
"informal_negative_past": "く なかった",
"informal_past": "かった",
"kana": "こわ",
"lemma": "怖",
"provisional": "かったら",
"terminal": "い",
"volitional": "かろう"
},
"name": "ja-adj-infl"
}
],
"lang": "Japanese",
"lang_code": "ja",
"pos": "adj",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"Japanese terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"english": "Ghosts are frightening.",
"roman": "Yūrei wa kowai.",
"ruby": [
[
"幽",
"ゆう"
],
[
"霊",
"れい"
],
[
"怖",
"こわ"
]
],
"text": "幽霊は怖い。",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"frightening, scary, terrifying"
],
"links": [
[
"frightening",
"frightening"
],
[
"scary",
"scary"
],
[
"terrifying",
"terrifying"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"english": "Hakata dialect",
"word": "えずい"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
"Japanese terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"english": "afraid of the consequences",
"roman": "ato ga kowai",
"ruby": [
[
"怖",
"こわ"
]
],
"text": "あとが怖い",
"type": "example"
},
{
"english": "What’s wrong, scared?",
"ref": "2015, バットマン アーカム・ナイト [Batman: Arkham Knight], spoken by Batman (Shinshū Fuji), Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, via Rocksteady Studios:",
"roman": "Dōshita kowai no ka?",
"ruby": [
[
"怖",
"こわ"
]
],
"text": "どうした 怖いのか？",
"type": "quote"
}
],
"glosses": [
"frightened, scared, afraid"
],
"links": [
[
"frightened",
"frightened"
],
[
"scared",
"scared"
],
[
"afraid",
"afraid"
]
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "恐ろしい"
},
{
"word": "おっかない"
}
]
},
{
"categories": [
"Japanese terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"english": "Habits can be scary.",
"literal_meaning": "Habits are a scary thing.",
"roman": "Shūkan to wa kowai mono da.",
"ruby": [
[
"習",
"しゅう"
],
[
"慣",
"かん"
],
[
"怖",
"こわ"
]
],
"text": "習慣とは怖いものだ。",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"creepy for its mysterious ability"
],
"links": [
[
"creepy",
"creepy"
],
[
"mysterious",
"mysterious"
],
[
"ability",
"ability"
]
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"other": "こわい"
},
{
"ipa": "[ko̞β̞a̠i]"
}
],
"synonyms": [
{
"roman": "koē",
"word": "こええ"
},
{
"roman": "koē",
"tags": [
"informal"
],
"word": "こえぇ"
}
],
"wikipedia": [
"Daijisen#Online_search_engines"
],
"word": "怖い"
}
Download raw JSONL data for 怖い meaning in Japanese (8.4kB)
{
"called_from": "parser/304",
"msg": "HTML tag <span> not properly closed",
"path": [
"怖い"
],
"section": "Japanese",
"subsection": "adjective",
"title": "怖い",
"trace": "started on line 2, detected on line 2"
}
{
"called_from": "parser/1336",
"msg": "no corresponding start tag found for </span>",
"path": [
"怖い"
],
"section": "Japanese",
"subsection": "adjective",
"title": "怖い",
"trace": ""
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Japanese dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (c15a5ce and 5c11237). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.