Translation guide
The quality of being too curious about other people's affairs. In Japanese, this is expressed through adjectives, nouns, and set phrases that criticize or warn against prying.
Describing a person or behavior as overly curious about others' private matters.
A common adjective/noun meaning meddlesome or nosy. Often used to describe someone who interferes in others' business with good intentions, but it can be negative.
Expressing the action of being nosy or prying into someone's affairs.
Telling someone not to be nosy or to mind their own business.
There is no single Japanese adjective that perfectly matches 'nosy'. Using おせっかい is the closest, but it often implies meddling with good intentions. For purely negative prying, use 詮索好き or verb phrases like 首を突っ込む.
Japanese culture values privacy, so directly calling someone nosy can be rude. Often, nosiness is implied through context or softer phrases like ちょっと聞きたいんだけど (I'd like to ask a little...) when prying, or お構いなく (please don't bother) to deflect.
She is nosy.
What a nosy person.
Literally 'fond of inquiry', this noun/adjective describes someone who pries into details. More formal than おせっかい.
He has a nosy personality.
A noun meaning 'rubbernecking spirit' or nosiness about accidents or scandals. Strongly negative, implying vulgar curiosity.
Don't be so nosy (like a rubbernecker).
Literally 'to stick one's neck into', meaning to meddle or poke one's nose into something. Very common and natural.
Don't stick your nose into other people's problems.
A verb meaning to pry or inquire nosily. More formal and direct than 首を突っ込む.
He pried into my past.
An idiom meaning to ask persistently and in detail, like 'to question someone thoroughly'. Implies nosy interrogation.
She asked me all sorts of nosy questions about my date.
Mind your own business.
Similar to 大きなお世話, meaning 'unnecessary help' or 'none of your business'. Slightly more polite.
That's none of your business.