憎(にく)たらしい

にくたらしい
i-adjective
detestable; hateful; irritating
informalemotion
Conjugation
AffirmativeNegative
Present憎(にく)たらしい憎(にく)たらしくない
Past憎(にく)たらしかった憎(にく)たらしくなかった
て form憎(にく)たらしくて憎(にく)たらしくなくて
Adverbial憎(にく)たらしく—
Conditional ば憎(にく)たらしければ憎(にく)たらしくなければ
Conditional たら憎(にく)たらしかったら憎(にく)たらしくなかったら
1. detestable, hateful, obnoxious, infuriating
Describes someone or something that provokes strong feelings of annoyance or hatred. Stronger and more emotional than simply being annoying.
憎(にく)たらしい顔(かお)をしている。
He has an obnoxious face.
あの子(こ)は憎(にく)たらしいことばかり言(い)う。
That kid says nothing but obnoxious things.
Going home before everyone else — how utterly infuriating.

Derived from the verb 憎(にく)む (to hate) with the suffix ~たらしい, which intensifies the negative quality. This suffix pattern is also seen in 図々(ずうずう)しい (shameless) and 嫌(いや)らしい (unpleasant).

Usage

Often used to describe people, their behavior, or their expressions. Can carry a tone of frustrated affection when used about children or someone whose behavior is annoying but not truly hated. The expression 憎(にく)たらしいほど (infuriatingly) is sometimes used with positive qualities: 憎(にく)たらしいほど美(うつく)しい (infuriatingly beautiful).

Common collocations

  • 憎(にく)たらしい顔(かお): a hateful expression
  • 憎(にく)たらしい口(くち)をきく: to say obnoxious things
  • 憎(にく)たらしいほど: infuriatingly (+ positive quality)

Similar words

  • 憎(にく)い: hateful — the base adjective; less emotionally charged than 憎(にく)たらしい
  • 腹立(はらだ)たしい: irritating, infuriating — focuses on the feeling of anger provoked
  • 小憎(こにく)らしい: slightly annoying, cheeky — milder version, often used affectionately about children