Copyright © 2026 Kotomora. All Rights Reserved.
からかう (karakau) Japanese meaning: tease | Kotomora
Common word› JLPT N2 › Freq. Frequency Top 20,000 Conjugation からかう · godan verb (-u)
Form Positive Negative Dictionary からかう からかわない Polite からかいます からかいません Past polite からかいました からかいませんでした Past からかった からかわなかった Te-form からかって からかわないで Desire からかいたい からかいたくない Potential からかえる からかえない Passive からかわれる からかわれない Causative からかわせる からかわせない Causative passive からかわせられる also からかわされる からかわせられない also からかわされない Volitional からかおう Polite volitional からかいましょう Imperative からかえ からかうな Conditional からかえば からかわなければ Tara conditional からかったら からかわなかったら
Report an issue with this page
新あたら
しい
髪かみ
型がた
を
からかっ
た
。
My friend teased me about my new hairstyle.
My younger brother gets angry quickly when I tease him.
Usage patterns 〈 人ひと 〉 をからかう to tease/make fun of someone
The younger brother is always teasing his little sister.
〈 人ひと 〉 をからかって 笑わら う to tease someone and laugh about it
My friend teased me about my mistake and laughed.
〈 事こと 〉 のことでからかう to tease someone about a particular thing
He was teased about his new haircut.
Related words· 11 いじる often implies playful teasing that includes physical touching or fiddling, while からかう is purely verbal or behavioral teasing.
馬鹿にする is stronger and more derogatory, meaning to look down on or ridicule someone, whereas からかう is usually light-hearted teasing.
冷やかす means to tease or kid someone lightly, often with a hint of sarcasm, similar in tone to からかう but slightly more mocking.
茶化す means to turn something serious into a joke or brush it off with humor, while からかう focuses on teasing a person directly.
Show 7 more 嘲る means to mock or scorn someone with contempt, a much harsher act than the playful teasing of からかう.
からかう means to tease someone lightly and playfully, while 苛める implies more persistent or harmful bullying.
からかう directly teases a specific person with を, while ふざける is broader and basically intransitive, describing playful or joking behavior in general.
からかう is a common everyday verb for playful teasing, whereas 揶揄 is more literary and typically appears in written or formal contexts.
Written forms からかう Usage 100%
Usually written in kana; the kanji form 揶揄う is rare.
揶揄からか う Usage <1%
rarely-used kanji form
Rare kanji form; learners should recognize it but use kana.
Etymology The origin is uncertain. It may be related to classical Japanese からく (to provoke) or からかし (teasing), but the exact derivation is unclear.
からかう means to tease or joke at someone's expense, close to the playful trickery sense of 担ぐ but without necessarily making them believe something false.
からかう means to tease someone playfully and is lighter in tone than 弄ぶ, which implies genuinely careless or cruel manipulation of feelings.
からかう specifically means to tease or make fun of someone, a narrower meaning than 構う's broader sense 5 of playfully bothering someone.