Translation guide
Describes someone who is often ill, weak in health, or has an unhealthy appearance. Also used for things that evoke sickness, like smells or colors.
Describing a person who gets sick frequently or has a weak constitution.
Standard term for a person with a weak constitution who is often ill. Can be used as a noun or na-adjective.
He is sickly and often misses school.
Literally 'body is weak'. A very common, natural way to say someone is sickly or frail.
As a child I was sickly and was often hospitalized.
More formal or medical term for physical weakness or frailty. Often used in compounds like 虚弱体質 (constitutionally weak).
She has a sickly constitution and gets tired even from a little exercise.
Literally 'many illnesses'. A somewhat literary or formal term for being sickly.
He led a sickly life.
Describing someone who looks pale, weak, or unwell.
Literally 'complexion is bad'. The most common way to say someone looks sickly or pale.
You look sickly today, are you okay?
Pale, often with a sickly or unhealthy connotation. Can also describe light or colors.
Colloquial: 'like a sick person'. Used when someone looks sickly or unwell.
Why the sickly face? What's wrong?
Means 'pathological' or 'morbid', but can describe a sickly appearance or unhealthy obsession.
Describing something that causes a feeling of sickness or disgust, like an overly sweet smell or a lurid color.
Literally 'to induce nausea'. Used for sickly smells, tastes, or sights.
A sickly sweet smell hung in the room.
Colloquial verb meaning to feel sick or disgusted. Often used for unpleasant smells, tastes, or situations.
Literally 'chest becomes bad', meaning to feel sick or nauseated. Used for sickly sensations.
To retch or gag. Stronger than むかつく, used for a sickly reaction that almost causes vomiting.
Describing something overly emotional, sentimental, or cloying to the point of being unpleasant.
病弱 is a more formal, written term often used in medical or descriptive contexts. 体が弱い is the everyday spoken phrase for being sickly or frail. Use 体が弱い in casual conversation.
The English word 'sickly' covers both frequent illness and nauseating qualities. In Japanese, these are expressed with different words. Do not use 病気っぽい (byōki-ppoi) for 'sickly' as it means 'seems sick' rather than 'prone to sickness'.
He has a sickly pale face.
彼の病的なまでに痩せた姿が心配だ。
I'm worried about his sickly thin appearance.
このむかつくような甘さが苦手だ。
I can't stand this sickly sweetness.
The colors of that painting are sickly to look at.
The sickly smell of rotten fish made me gag.
Literally 'sickly sweet', used for cloying tastes, smells, or overly sentimental expressions.
I'm fed up with his sickly sweet love letters.
The finale of that drama was trying to be tear-jerking in a sickly way.