Usage patterns 〈 事こと〉 〉 が 億劫おっくう だ to feel it's too much bother to do something
I can't be bothered to go outside.
〈 事こと〉 〉 が 億劫おっくう になる to become reluctant to do something
As you get older, going out becomes a hassle.
〈 事こと〉 〉 を 億劫おっくう に 思おも う to find (doing) something bothersome
He finds cleaning to be a chore.
Related words 面倒 stresses that a task is troublesome or complicated, while 億劫 stresses the emotional reluctance or lack of motivation to even start it.
煩わしい describes something objectively annoying or fussy to deal with, whereas 億劫 describes a subjective feeling of not wanting to make the effort.
だるい refers to physical sluggishness or fatigue, while 億劫 refers to mental reluctance to bother doing something.
億劫 emphasizes that something feels like too much bother or effort to do, while 気が進まない focuses on a general lack of motivation without necessarily implying the task is troublesome.
億劫 emphasizes a feeling of reluctance or dread about doing something, while 面倒くさい focuses more broadly on the hassle or effort involved.
Don't confuse with 劫 as a standalone word means 'kalpa' or the Go term 'ko', but 億劫 (おっくう ), which shares the kanji 劫 , is an unrelated everyday word meaning 'troublesome' or 'bothersome'.
Etymology Originally a Buddhist term meaning 'an immensely long period of time', from Sanskrit kalpa via Chinese. The modern sense of 'troublesome' likely developed from the idea of something being so long or tedious that it becomes a burden.
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