聞き苦しい
ききぐるしい
i-adjective
hard to listen to; unpleasant to hear
Conjugation
| Affirmative | Negative | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | 聞き苦しい | 聞き苦しくない |
| Past | 聞き苦しかった | 聞き苦しくなかった |
| て form | 聞き苦しくて | 聞き苦しくなくて |
| Adverbial | 聞き苦しく | — |
| Conditional ば | 聞き苦しければ | 聞き苦しくなければ |
| Conditional たら | 聞き苦しかったら | 聞き苦しくなかったら |
1.
hard to listen to; unpleasant to hear
Used to describe sounds, speech, or remarks that are physically hard to catch (too quiet, muffled, or unclear) or emotionally unpleasant to listen to (excuses, complaints, rude remarks). Often used as a humble acknowledgment that one's own speech may be hard to hear.
聞き苦しい言い訳。
A lame excuse (hard to listen to).
Composed of 聞く (to listen, to hear) and 苦しい (painful, uncomfortable), with rendaku turning くるしい into ぐるしい. The suffix -苦しい is a productive pattern meaning "unpleasant to do," also seen in words like 見苦しい (unsightly) and 寝苦しい (hard to sleep).
The word covers both physical audibility (noise, static, muffled speech) and emotional unpleasantness (unconvincing excuses, tactless comments, unpleasant tone). It is especially common in set polite phrases used in speeches, broadcasts, and phone calls.
Common collocations
- 聞き苦しい言い訳: a lame/unconvincing excuse
- 聞き苦しい点: points that may have been hard to hear (set polite phrase)
- 聞き苦しい声: a voice that is hard to hear
- 聞き苦しい話: an unpleasant story to listen to