na-adjective, noun
Modern colloquial use for actions that are sly, underhanded, or not playing fair. Often used in negative evaluations of someone's tactics.
そんな姑息な手段は使うべきじゃない。
You shouldn't use such underhanded methods.
彼のやり方は姑息で、信用
na-adjective, noun
Original meaning: a temporary measure or stopgap solution. Now rare and mostly replaced by the modern sense; still encountered in older texts or formal explanations.
それはあくまで姑息な対応に過ぎない。
That is nothing more than a stopgap measure.
His way of doing things is sneaky and untrustworthy.
Originally from Chinese, meaning a temporary or stopgap measure. In modern Japanese, the meaning shifted to 'underhanded' or 'sneaky', likely through association with petty, short-sighted tactics.