How do you say "freezing" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "freezing" is ひどく寒い (hidokusamui). It is a adjective pronounced "hee-doh-koo-sah-moo-ee".

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

ひどく寒い is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as hidokusamui, it sounds roughly like "hee-doh-koo-sah-moo-ee" to an English ear.

Example sentence

今日はひどく寒いです。外に出るときはコートを着てください。

Kyou wa hidoku samui desu. Soto ni deru toki wa kooto wo kite kudasai.

It is freezing today. Please wear a coat when you go outside.

Usage notes

Hidoku samui (ひどく寒い) means extremely cold or freezing. It combines hidoku (severely) with samui (cold) and describes temperatures well below comfortable levels.

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Questions about ひどく寒い

How do you pronounce ひどく寒い?

ひどく寒い is romanised as hidokusamui. Say it roughly like "hee-doh-koo-sah-moo-ee" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is ひどく寒い formal or casual?

ひどく寒い is an i-adjective. The form shown is the plain form, which works in casual speech. To make it polite, add desu at the end of the sentence. The word itself does not change.

How is ひどく寒い written in Japanese?

ひどく寒い is written using kanji and hiragana. Kanji characters carry the core meaning; any hiragana or katakana that follow show grammatical endings.

This word is part of the vocabulary taught in the Japanese language learning game Noun Town, where words are introduced through play rather than memorisation.