Meaning

Primary

Pity

Alternatives

Sympathy, Mercy, Compassion

Word Type

noun

Explanation

You have your feelings... these are the feelings humans have. When you ask someone to have feelings (Have feelings, KAY?? ( at the end)), you are asking them to pity or have mercy on you. Please! Have those human feelings that people have, like sympathy or pity. Don't kill me, man!

Reading

なさけ
  • 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: Who are you begging to have pity on you? It's NASA. They have you hanging outside of the space station and they're going to push you towards earth where you'll burn up in the atmosphere. You don't want that, so you beg mission control for some pity. What will they do? You decide.

Context

Patterns of Use

Common Word Combinations

  • 情けがある

    to have compassion

    情けがない

    to lack compassion, to have no heart

    情けがわく

    pity wells up, sympathy wells up

Context Sentences

アイツは情けのカケラもない男だよ。

He's a man without a shred of compassion.

お前に情けをかけられるなんて、ホント情けないよ。

It's truly pathetic that I have to receive mercy from you.

70点が合格点のテストで69点だったが、お情けで合格させてもらえた。

I got sixty-nine points on the test where seventy points is the passing score, but I was allowed to pass out of mercy.

Kanji Composition