1.
risky; involving significant danger or uncertainty
Describes an action, plan, or situation that carries a high chance of failure, loss, or harm. The English loanword feels lighter and more modern than the Sino-Japanese 危険, and is common in business, finance, and everyday casual contexts.
He made the rather risky decision to quit his stable job and start his own business.
From the English 'risky.' Treated as a ナ-adjective in Japanese, taking な before nouns and だ as a predicate. The loanword reading is established as リスキー with the long vowel mark.
Usage
- Modifies plans, decisions, investments, behaviors, and ventures rather than objects or people.
- Common in business, finance, and informal everyday speech. Spoken Japanese often uses リスキー where written or formal Japanese would use 危険 or リスクが高い.
- Can be intensified with かなり ('quite'), あまりに ('overly'), or ちょっと ('a bit').
Common collocations
- リスキーな選択: a risky choice
- リスキーな投資: a risky investment
- リスキーな決断: a risky decision
- リスキーな賭け: a risky gamble
- リスキーすぎる: to be too risky
- かなりリスキー: quite risky
Similar words
- 危険な: dangerous — broader and more serious; covers physical danger as well as risk; the standard formal term.
- 危ない: dangerous; risky — native vocabulary, used for both physical danger and risky decisions; the most common everyday word.
- リスクが高い: high risk — more analytical phrasing common in business and finance contexts.
- 冒険的: adventurous; bold — frames the risk positively, as exciting or daring rather than ill-advised.
- ハイリスク: high-risk — another loanword, often used in ハイリスク・ハイリターン ('high risk, high return').