ばかばかしい

ば

か

ば

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し

い

JLPTN2Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

ばかばかしい · i-adjective

Form	Positive	Negative
Dictionary	ばかばかしい	ばかばかしくない
Polite	ばかばかしいです	ばかばかしくないですalso ばかばかしくありません
Past polite	ばかばかしかったです	ばかばかしくなかったですalso ばかばかしくありませんでした
Past	ばかばかしかった	ばかばかしくなかった
Te-form	ばかばかしくて	ばかばかしくなくて
Adverbial	ばかばかしく
Conditional	ばかばかしければ	ばかばかしくなければ
Tara conditional	ばかばかしかったら	ばかばかしくなかったら

Meanings

i-adjective

absurd; ridiculous; silly; foolish

usually written using kana alone

Expresses that something is so foolish or unreasonable that it's laughable or not worth taking seriously. Often used when the speaker feels exasperation or disbelief.

そんな話はなし、ばかばかしくて聞きいてられない。
That story is so ridiculous I can't listen to it.
こんな簡かん単たんなことで失しっ敗ぱいするなんて、ばかばかしい。
It's absurd to fail at something this simple.

See all 18 example sentences ›

Usage patterns

〈事こと〉が馬ば鹿か馬ば鹿かしいfor something (a situation, idea, story) to be absurd/ridiculous
そんな作つくり話ばなしは馬ば鹿か馬ば鹿かしいと思おもう。
I think that made-up story is ridiculous.
馬ば鹿か馬ば鹿かしいほど〜to an absurd/ridiculous degree
馬ば鹿か馬ば鹿かしいほど時じ間かんがかかった。
It took an absurdly long time.
馬ば鹿か馬ば鹿かしくて〜so ridiculous that (one reacts a certain way)
話はなしが馬ば鹿か馬ば鹿かしくて笑わらってしまった。
The story was so absurd that I ended up laughing.

Kanji

馬horse
鹿deer
莫must not, do not, be not
迦(used phonetically)

Related words

馬ば鹿からしいN2
馬鹿らしい and 馬鹿馬鹿しい both mean 'absurd/silly', but 馬鹿馬鹿しい is the stronger, more emphatic version expressing greater exasperation.
馬ば鹿かげる
馬鹿げる is the verb form meaning 'to be absurd' (as in 馬鹿げた話), while 馬鹿馬鹿しい is the adjective directly describing something as absurd.
くだらないN3
くだらない means 'worthless/trivial' and focuses on something not being worth one's attention, whereas 馬鹿馬鹿しい stresses that something is laughably foolish.
滑こっ稽けいN1
滑稽 describes something comical or funny in a lighter, more neutral way, while 馬鹿馬鹿しい carries a stronger sense of contemptuous disbelief at the foolishness.
ナンセンスN1
馬鹿馬鹿しい is a native i-adjective meaning 'ridiculous' with a stronger emotional charge, while ナンセンス is a calmer, more intellectual way to call an idea absurd.

Don't confuse with

ばかN3
馬鹿 is the noun/adjectival-noun meaning 'fool/foolish', while 馬鹿馬鹿しい is a separate i-adjective meaning 'absurd, ridiculous' about a situation rather than a person.

Written forms

ばかばかしいUsage46%
Usually written in kana; the kanji forms are rare or search-only.
バカバカしいUsage25%
kana-only spelling
Katakana spelling, sometimes used for emphasis or in informal writing.
馬ば鹿か馬ば鹿かしいUsage24%
Kanji spelling; rarely used in practice.
馬ば鹿かばかしいUsage4%
search-only kanji form
莫迦ばか莫迦ばかしいUsage1%
search-only kanji form

Etymology

Derived from 馬鹿 (ばか, 'fool') reduplicated with the adjective-forming suffix しい, literally 'fool-fool-ish'. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but it follows a common pattern for emphatic adjectives.