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せこい Japanese meaning | Kotomora

せこい

せ

こ

い

JLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 50,000

Meanings

1

i-adjective

petty; stingy; cheap; small-minded

Colloquial adjective describing a person or action as small-minded, miserly, or calculating in a mean-spirited way. Often used in casual speech.

あいつは本ほん当とうにせこいやつだ。
That guy is really petty.
そんなせこいことで

怒おこ

る

な

よ

。

Don't get mad over such a cheap thing.

2

i-adjective

poor (performance); bad; unskilled

obsolete term

Obsolete term used by actors and performers in the Meiji era to describe a poor or unskilled performance. Not used in modern Japanese.

明めい治じ時じ代だいの役やく者しゃは、下手へたな演えん技ぎを「せこい」と言いったそうだ。
Actors in the Meiji era apparently called a poor performance 'sekoi'.

Written forms

せこいUsage46%
Standard hiragana spelling; no kanji form exists.
セコイUsage27%
Katakana variant used for emphasis or in casual writing.
セコいUsage27%
Mixed-kana variant sometimes seen in informal contexts.

Similar words

けち
けち is a noun/adjective meaning 'stingy' or 'miserly', focusing on unwillingness to spend money. せこい is broader, implying pettiness, sneakiness, or cheapness in character or actions.
ずるい
ずるい means 'sly' or 'unfair', emphasizing cunning or trickery. せこい can overlap but often carries a nuance of being small-minded or cheap rather than purely deceptive.

Etymology

The origin is uncertain. It may be related to the obsolete sense used by Meiji-era performers, but the modern colloquial meaning developed separately. Possibly derived from a contraction or sound shift, but no clear etymology is established.