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し難い (しにくい, shinikui) Japanese meaning: hard to do | Kotomora
Conjugation し難い · i-adjective
Form Positive Negative Dictionary し 難にく い し 難にく くない Polite し 難にく いです し 難にく くないです also し 難にく くありません Past polite し 難にく かったです し 難にく くなかったです also し 難にく くありませんでした Past し 難にく かった し 難にく くなかった Te-form し 難にく くて し 難にく くなくて Adverbial し 難にく く Conditional し 難にく ければ し 難にく くなければ Tara conditional し 難にく かったら し 難にく くなかったら
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This manual is hard to understand.
His behavior is hard to understand.
Kanji 難 difficult, impossible, trouble Related words づらい Also means 'hard to do', but often implies emotional or psychological difficulty, or personal hardship, whereas しにくい is more objective.
かねる Means 'cannot do' or 'find it difficult to do', often used in polite refusals; しにくい simply states difficulty without implying impossibility.
Written forms し難い
しにくい
Standard kanji-kana mixed spelling; the reading しにくい is the most common.
しがたい
Alternate reading しがたい, slightly more formal/literary; also used in fixed expressions.
為難い
rarely-used kanji form
為悪しにく い
rarely-used kanji form
Rare kanji form; it is rarely used.
Etymology Compound of the masu-stem of する (to do) + にくい (hard to do). The alternate reading しがたい uses the classical adjective がたい (hard to do), which is more formal.
しがたい
Kana spelling for the reading しがたい.
