不ふ得とく意い

ふ

と

く

い

Common wordJLPTN1Freq.FrequencyTop 50,000

Meanings

1

na-adjective, noun

weak point; poor at; not one's forte

Used to describe a subject, skill, or area where one is not good or confident. Often contrasted with 得意 (strong point).

数すう学がくは私わたしの不ふ得とく意いな科か目もくです

。

Math is a subject I'm not good at.

彼かれは人ひと前まえで話はなすのが不ふ得とく意いだ。

He is not good at speaking in front of people.

Usage patterns

〈事こと〉が不ふ得とく意いだto be poor at (a subject/skill)
彼かれは数すう学がくが不ふ得とく意いだ。
He's not good at math.
不ふ得とく意いな〈事こと〉a subject/area one is poor at
不ふ得とく意いな科か目もくは英えい語ごです。
The subject I'm weak in is English.
得とく意いな〈事こと〉と不ふ得とく意いな〈事こと〉one's strengths and weaknesses
誰だれにでも得とく意いなことと不ふ得とく意いなことがある。

Kanji

不negative, non-, bad
得gain, get, find
意idea, mind, heart

Related words

苦にが手てN3
苦手 also means 'weak point' but often carries a nuance of personal dislike or discomfort, while 不得意 is more neutral and objective about lack of skill.
下手へたN5
下手 describes general lack of skill at something (often visibly so), whereas 不得意 more narrowly means a subject or area one isn't confident or practiced in.
音おん痴ち
As a suffix, 音痴 (e.g. 機械音痴) means 'hopeless at' a specific area, while 不得意 is the general word for being poor at any skill or subject.

Opposites

得とく意いN3
得意 means a strong point one excels at, while 不得意 means a weak point one is poor at.

Built from

不ふ+得とく意い

Etymology

Formed by adding the negative prefix 不 (not) to 得意 (strong point, proficiency). The word 得意 itself originally meant 'to obtain one's will' and later came to mean 'something one is good at'.

Everyone has things they're good at and things they're not.