こぢんまり

こぢんまり
adverb
cozy and compact; small but well put together
descriptivesize
1. cozily; compactly; small but neat and comfortable
Describes a place, home, or gathering that is small in scale yet tidy and pleasant. The smallness is a virtue here, not a shortcoming.
こぢんまりした店(みせ)だ。
It's a small, cozy shop.
結婚式(けっこんしき)はこぢんまりと身内(みうち)だけで行(おこな)った。
We held the wedding on a small scale, with family only.
駅(えき)から少(すこ)し歩(ある)いたところに、こぢんまりとした感(かん)じのいい喫茶店(きっさてん)を見(み)つけた。
A little way from the station, I found a small, pleasant coffee shop.

Writing

  • Written こぢんまり with ぢ, not じ — a survival of the older orthography that is still the standard form. こじんまり is widely seen but treated as a misspelling.

Common patterns

  • こぢんまりした / こぢんまりとした + noun is the commonest pattern.
  • こぢんまりと + verb describes doing something on a modest scale.

Common collocations

The word is a compliment. To say a space is merely cramped, use 狭(せま)い; to say a gathering was disappointingly small, use 小規模(しょうきぼ).

general
Added 2026.8.25 21:29 · Revised 2026.9.4 21:29
30500/30752_kojinmari