Meaning

Primary

Bad

Alternatives

Poor, Wrong

Word Type

い adjective

Explanation

This is a single kanji with an on the end, meaning you know it's probably an adjective. What's the adjective form of bad? It's also bad.

Reading

わるい
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

Explanation

Since this word consists of a kanji with hiragana attached, you can bet that it will use the kun'yomi reading. You didn't learn that reading with this kanji, so here's a mnemonic to help you:

Do you know how in the Mario universe all the bad versions are called "WARU" (わる)? For example: "WARUIJI" and "WARIO." That's because they are bad. They come from this kanji. So, if you ever need to remember this reading, just think back to Wario and Waruigi.

Context

Patterns of Use

Common Word Combinations

  • 悪い事

    bad thing

    悪い人

    bad person

    悪い点

    bad point, bad grade

Context Sentences

あそこのレストラン、味は良いけどサービスが悪いよな。

The restaurant over there has good food, but the service is bad.

悪い夢でも見てるのかと思った。

I thought I was having a bad dream.

牛乳は悪くなっていたけど、俺は気にしなかった。

The milk went bad, but I didn’t care.

Kanji Composition