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Japanese vocabulary · Beginner
How do you say "rigid" in Japanese?
硬い
katai
In Japanese, "rigid" is 硬い (katai).
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Pronunciation
Ka-tai, two syllables, identical in spelling and sound to the word for 'hard' above, since rigid and hard share this same word.
Writing and usage
硬い is written using kanji. It's a adjective, and this word is also taught inside the Noun Town language learning game, where it appears in interactive lessons alongside hundreds of other everyday words.
Example sentence
板は硬く硬かった。
ita ha kataku kataka tta.
The board was stiff and rigid.
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How to remember 硬い
Katai does double duty for both hard and rigid, so one image works twice: a stiff, unbending metal bar.
Related words
- ancient 古代 kodai
- modern モダンな modan na
- traditional 伝統的な dentouteki na
- modernized 近代化された kindaika sareta
- stingy ケチ kechi
- humble 謙虚 kenkyo
- arrogant 傲慢だ gouman da
- flexible 柔軟な juunanna
- fragile 壊れやすい koware yasui
Browse all Japanese words in the glossary.
Questions about 硬い
How do you pronounce 硬い?
Ka-tai, two syllables, identical in spelling and sound to the word for 'hard' above, since rigid and hard share this same word.
Is 硬い formal or casual?
硬い is a neutral, everyday word that works in both casual and polite speech. The level of formality comes from the sentence structure around it, not from the word itself.
How is 硬い written in Japanese?
硬い is written using kanji. Romanised, it reads as katai.
Where can I practice Japanese words for free?
You can play free Japanese minigames in your browser on the Noun Town online games page, with no sign-up needed. Every word in the Japanese glossary also has native audio and an example sentence you can revisit any time.
"Rigid" in other languages
Curated by Jack Ratcliffe
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. Want to play the full game? Get Noun Town on Steam.
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