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手酷い (てひどい) Japanese meaning | Kotomora

手て酷ひどい

て

ひ

ど

い

Freq.FrequencyTop 100,000

Meanings

1

i-adjective

severe; harsh; tough

Describes treatment, criticism, conditions, or measures that are unsparingly strict or rough. Often implies a lack of mercy or gentleness.

彼かれは手て酷ひどい批ひ判はんを受うけた。
He received harsh criticism.
手て酷ひどい仕

し

打う

ち

に

耐た

え

られ

なかっ

た

。

I couldn't endure the severe treatment.

Written forms

手て酷ひどいUsage21%
Standard kanji spelling.
手てひどいUsage57%
Alternative spelling using hiragana for 酷.
てひどいUsage21%
Kana spelling, common in informal writing.

Kanji

手hand
酷cruel, severe, atrocious

Similar words

厳きびしい
厳しい is a general word for strict, severe, or intense. 手酷い emphasizes a more personal, merciless harshness, often in treatment or words.
酷ひどい
酷い means terrible, cruel, or awful. 手酷い adds the nuance of being harsh in a deliberate, unsparing way, often with the prefix 手- implying an action or treatment.

Etymology

Compound of prefix 手 (te, 'hand', implying an action or treatment) and 酷い (hidoi, 'cruel, severe'). The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but the word has been used since at least the Edo period.