たちの悪わるい

Meanings

expression, noun-modifying (irregular)

nasty; vicious; ill-natured; of bad character

Describes a person, behavior, or thing that is fundamentally mean-spirited, malicious, or troublesome. Often used in the phrase たちが悪い (predicative) or たちの悪い (attributive).

Kanji

悪bad, vice, rascal
質substance, quality, matter
性sex, gender, nature

Related words

たちが悪わるい
Predicative form used at the end of a sentence (e.g., あの人はたちが悪い). たちの悪い is the attributive form modifying a noun.
たちの良よい
Antonym meaning 'good-natured' or 'of good character'.

Opposites

質たちの良よい
good-natured; of good character

Written forms

たちの悪わるい
Standard kana-kanji spelling; the most common written form.
タチの悪わるい
Katakana spelling sometimes used for emphasis or in informal writing.
質たちの悪わるい
Kanji spelling using 質; less common and may be confused with しつのわるい.
性質たちの悪わるい
Kanji spelling using 性質; rare and somewhat redundant.

Etymology

From たち (nature, character) + の (possessive particle) + 悪い (bad). The noun たち is often written in kana.