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しわい (shiwai) Japanese meaning: stingy | Kotomora
Conjugation しわい · i-adjective
Form Positive Negative Dictionary しわい しわくない Polite しわいです しわくないです also しわくありません Past polite しわかったです しわくなかったです also しわくありませんでした Past しわかった しわくなかった Te-form しわくて しわくなくて Adverbial しわく Conditional しわければ しわくなければ Tara conditional しわかったら しわくなかったら
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奢おご
っ
て
くれ
ない
。
He's so stingy he'll never treat you.
Don't be so cheap—why not donate a little?
Kanji 吝 miserly, stingy, sparing Related words けち けち is a more common and direct word for 'stingy' or 'miserly', while しわい is less frequent and can carry a nuance of being excessively frugal or tight-fisted in a somewhat old-fashioned or dialectal way.
せこい せこい is a casual, often derogatory term for 'petty' or 'cheap', focusing on small-minded stinginess, whereas しわい is more about general unwillingness to spend.
Written forms しわい Usage 95%
Usually written in kana; the kanji form 吝い is rare.
吝しわ い Usage 5%
Rare kanji spelling; learners will almost always encounter the kana form.
Etymology The origin is uncertain. It may be related to the classical adjective しわし (shiwashi) meaning 'wrinkled' or 'shrunken', metaphorically extended to a 'tight' or 'stingy' personality, but this is speculative.
