How to say "small-minded" in Japanese
Choosing the right word
- i-adjectiveCovers the petty, stingy side of 'small-minded': begrudging small sums, quibbling over trifles, being cheap about sharing. This is meanness over money and favors, not intolerance of other people's views.
- ケツの穴が小さいけつのあながちいさいexpression, prenominal modifierA crude idiom — literally, that one's asshole is small — for someone petty and chicken-hearted: grudging, unable to let things go. Keep it to rough casual talk, never polite settings.
- 心の狭いこころのせまいexpression, prenominal modifierThe narrow-minded sense: someone intolerant of opinions and ways different from their own, close-minded toward what is new. Describes a person's cast of mind, not stinginess over money.
- 器の小さいうつわのちいさいexpression, i-adjectiveLiterally 'of small vessel': a person of small capacity — intolerant, inflexible, unforgiving. Used in judging someone's whole character, as of a leader; this form stands before the noun it describes.
- 器が小さいうつわがちいさいexpression, i-adjectiveThe same metaphor and meaning — a person of small capacity, unforgiving and inflexible — in the form used to state it as a sentence about someone, where 器の小さい would instead modify a noun.
Choose 「せこい」 for petty, stingy behavior; 「ケツの穴が小さい」 for a vulgar idiom about someone petty and chicken-hearted; 「心の狭い」 for a narrow, intolerant cast of mind; and 「器の小さい」 or 「器が小さい」 for a person of small capacity.
Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only
Japanese equivalents
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