How do you say "ugly" in Japanese?

In Japanese, "ugly" is 醜い (Minikui). It is a adjective pronounced "mee-nee-koo-ee".

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.

Example sentence

そのデザインは少し醜いです。

Sono dezain wa sukoshi minikui desu.

That design is a little ugly.

Usage notes

Minikui (醜い) is an i-adjective meaning ugly or unsightly. It can describe appearances, designs, or behaviors. Using it to describe a person directly is considered very rude, so it is safer to apply it to objects or abstract things.

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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.