ろくでもない

ろくでもない
i-adjective
good-for-nothing; worthless
Conjugation
AffirmativeNegative
Presentろくでもないろくでもなくない
Pastろくでもなかったろくでもなくなかった
て formろくでもなくてろくでもなくなくて
Adverbialろくでもなく
Conditional ばろくでもなければろくでもなくなければ
Conditional たらろくでもなかったらろくでもなくなかったら
1. good-for-nothing; worthless; no-good; lousy
Describes something or someone that has no value or merit, often used with a tone of contempt or dismissal.
ろくでもない(はなし)ばかりする。
He only talks about worthless things.
あいつはろくでもないやつだ。
That guy is a good-for-nothing.
(わか)(ころ)はろくでもないことばかりして、(おや)心配(しんぱい)をかけた。
When I was young, I only did worthless things and caused my parents worry.

A colloquial expression conveying strong disapproval or contempt. The ろく comes from (ろく), meaning decent or proper, so ろくでもない literally means "not even decent." The variant ろくでなし is a noun form meaning "a good-for-nothing person."

COMMON COLLOCATIONS:

  • ろくでもない(はなし): worthless talk, nonsense
  • ろくでもないやつ: a good-for-nothing person
  • ろくでもないこと: worthless things, no-good deeds

RELATED EXPRESSIONS:

  • ろくでなし: good-for-nothing (noun) — refers to a person
  • ろくに〜ない: not even properly; barely — e.g., ろくに()べていない (hasn't eaten properly)

SIMILAR WORDS:

  • くだらない: trivial, worthless — focuses on lack of interest or value rather than contempt
  • つまらない: boring, worthless — milder, emphasizing lack of interest
  • (ろく)な〜ない: no decent ~ — a related pattern meaning there's nothing good