How do you say "ugly" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "ugly" is 醜い (Minikui). It is a adjective.

Listen to the pronunciation:

Pronunciation

醜い is written in kanji and hiragana. Romanised as Minikui, it sounds roughly like "mee-nee-koo-ee" to an English ear.

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Questions about 醜い

How do you pronounce 醜い?

醜い is romanised as Minikui. Say it roughly like "mee-nee-koo-ee" in English. Each Japanese syllable has even weight, so keep the rhythm steady.

Is 醜い formal or casual?

醜い 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 醜い written in Japanese?

醜い 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.