微々(びび)たる

びびたる
adjective
slight; insignificant; trivial
1. slight; trivial; insignificant; negligible
Describes something extremely small in amount, degree, or importance. A literary-style prenominal adjective (連体詞) that can only appear before nouns.
微々(びび)たる金額(きんがく)だ。
It's a trivial amount of money.
努力(どりょく)の成果(せいか)は微々(びび)たるものだった。
The results of the effort were negligible.
全体(ぜんたい)から見(み)れば微々(びび)たる差(さ)にすぎないが、本人(ほんにん)にとっては大(おお)きい。
It may be an insignificant difference overall, but it matters a lot to the person involved.

GRAMMAR:
微々(びび)たる is a prenominal adjective (連体詞(れんたいし)) that only modifies nouns directly. It cannot be used predicatively (*微々(びび)たるだ is ungrammatical). The pattern ～たるもの is very common.

COMMON COLLOCATIONS:

  • 微々(びび)たる金額(きんがく) (trivial sum)
  • 微々(びび)たるもの (something insignificant)
  • 微々(びび)たる差(さ) (negligible difference)
  • 微々(びび)たる影響(えいきょう) (slight influence)

SIMILAR WORDS:
些細(ささい)な means trivial or trifling and can be used both before nouns and predicatively. {わずか}な means slight or tiny and is more neutral in tone.

general
Added 2026.3.5 15:54
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