Translation guide
How to express 'filthy' in Japanese, from physical dirtiness to moral disgust and intensifiers.
Describing something covered in dirt, grime, or filth.
The most common and general word for 'dirty' or 'filthy'. Can be used for objects, places, and people.
この部屋は汚い。
This room is filthy.
汚い手で触らないで。
Don't touch it with your filthy hands.
Means 'unclean' or 'unsanitary'. Often used in more formal or medical contexts, or to describe a lack of hygiene.
不潔な環境は病気の原因になる。
Filthy environments can cause illness.
Specifically means 'covered in mud'. Use when the filth is mud.
子供たちは泥だらけになって遊んだ。
The kids played and got filthy with mud.
Describing something morally repugnant, obscene, or lewd.
Expresses a strong sense of moral disgust or defilement. Often used for actions or people considered impure.
彼の汚らわしい行為は許せない。
I can't forgive his filthy deeds.
Means 'obscene' or 'lewd'. Used for sexually explicit or vulgar content.
Means 'vulgar' or 'crude'. Can describe language, jokes, or behavior that is filthy in a low-class way.
Means 'licentious' or 'lewd'. Often used in literary or formal contexts for sexually immoral behavior.
Using 'filthy' to emphasize an extreme degree, often with negative connotations (e.g., filthy rich).
An adverb meaning 'terribly' or 'awfully'. Can be used to intensify adjectives, similar to 'filthy' in 'filthy rich'.
彼はひどく金持ちだ。
He is filthy rich.
Means 'tremendously' or 'incredibly'. A colloquial intensifier that can replace 'filthy' in some contexts.
ものすごく金持ちのやつがいる。
There's a guy who's filthy rich.
A very casual intensifier meaning 'absurdly' or 'ridiculously'. Can be used like 'filthy' in slangy speech.
Describing language that is obscene or full of swear words.
Literally 'dirty words'. The most direct way to say 'filthy language'.
そんな汚い言葉を使うな。
Don't use such filthy language.
Means 'vulgar speech' or 'crude language'. Emphasizes lack of refinement.
彼の下品な言葉遣いには驚いた。
I was shocked by his filthy language.
An idiomatic phrase meaning 'to have a foul mouth'. Describes someone who habitually uses harsh or vulgar language.
English uses 'filthy' as an intensifier in phrases like 'filthy rich' or 'filthy dirty'. Japanese does not use 汚い (dirty) in this way. Instead, use adverbs like ひどく or ものすごく.
ひどく汚い部屋
a filthy dirty room
汚い is the general word for 'dirty' and can be used in most situations. 不潔 specifically means 'unsanitary' and is more formal. For 'filthy hands', 汚い手 is natural; 不潔な手 sounds clinical.
That movie has too many filthy scenes.
I'm sick of his filthy jokes.
To have a filthy affair.
めちゃくちゃ金持ちだって。
I heard he's filthy rich.
That person has a filthy mouth, so be careful.