気味|きみ
- 1Showing a slight sign of a physical or mental condition, such as tiredness.Ex. 1
- 2Having a slight tendency to move in an undesirable direction, such as gaining weight.Ex. 2
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Common in everyday conversation and also appears in writing, often about health, mood, or trends. It softens a statement by describing a state as only slight. Unlike がち, which describes something that happens frequently, 気味 describes a mild state that is present now.
Learners often use 気味 for positive states, but it mostly describes undesirable conditions.
Note that as a suffix 気味 is pronounced ぎみ, not きみ.
Do not use 気味 for a strong or complete state; it expresses only a slight degree.
- がちN3「がち」 emphasizes a tendency for something to happen repeatedly or easily, focusing on frequency, while 「気味」 focuses on the degree of a current 'a bit…' state. Both attach to verb stems (the ます form minus ます) or nouns and often carry a negative nuance, but their emphases differ, so they generally cannot be swapped freely.
- っぽいN3「っぽい」 means 'having the feel/characteristics of…', describes a personality that 'does something at the slightest trigger', or indicates that something contains a lot of a certain element or color; it conjugates like an い-adjective and is colloquial. 「気味」 instead focuses on currently being in a slightly (usually undesirable) state and is neutral in register.
- げN2「げ」 expresses an emotion or state that shows in someone's expression or manner; it attaches to emotion adjectives and forms like 「たげ」「ありげ」, and leans literary. 「気味」 refers to a slight undesirable tendency and attaches to verb masu-stems or nouns, so the two generally cannot be interchanged.
- ような気がするN3「ような気がする」 expresses the speaker's uncertain judgment or vague recollection based on a feeling, with no restriction to good or bad; 「気味」 attaches to masu-stems or nouns and objectively describes a slight, mostly negative tendency. The two generally cannot be interchanged.
ぎみ is simply the suffix reading of this same pattern, and がち expresses a habitual tendency for something to occur often, whereas 気味 expresses a slight state present now. っぽい is more casual and means 'resembling' or '-ish' without necessarily being negative, げ describes how something appears from outside, and ような気がする states the speaker's vague impression rather than a slight actual state.
