しにくい

also: しがたい

し

に

く

い

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

Meanings

i-adjective

hard to do; difficult to do

usually written using kana alone

Attaches to the masu-stem of verbs to express that an action is difficult or hard to perform. The reading しにくい is the most common; しがたい is more formal/literary and often used in fixed expressions like 想像しがたい (hard to imagine).

この説せつ明めい書しょはわかりにくい。
This manual is hard to understand.
彼かれの行こう動どうは理り解かいしがたい。
His behavior is hard to understand.

See all 145 example sentences ›

Kanji

難difficult, impossible, trouble
為do, change, make
悪bad, vice, rascal

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
- しにくい
  Rare kanji form; the reading しがたい is also possible for this spelling.
- しがたい
為悪しにくい
rarely-used kanji form
Rare kanji form; it is rarely used.
しがたい
Kana spelling for the reading しがたい.

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.