数奇|すうきsuuki[1]atamadaka (head-high)

Common
さっきsakki[1]atamadaka (head-high)
Definitions
  1. noun, na-adjectivemisfortune; adverse fortune; hapless fate
  2. na-adjective, nouncheckered (life, career, etc.); varied; eventful; dramatic; full of ups and downs
    私は数奇すうきな運命うんめいにもてあそばれてきた。↗
    I have lived a life of a puppet of fortune.
Conjugation
Plain form数奇(すうき)
Polite (desu)数奇です(すうきです)
Negative (dewa nai)数奇ではない(すうきではない)
polite (dewa arimasen)数奇ではありません(すうきではありません)
Past (datta)数奇だった(すうきだった)
Past negative (dewa nakatta)数奇ではなかった(すうきではなかった)
Te form (de)数奇で(すうきで)
Adverbial (ni)数奇に(すうきに)
Conditional (nara)数奇なら(すうきなら)

Common forms generated by rule; see the senses for honorific or irregular usage.

Synonyms & antonyms
  • Synonym不運ふうんNeutralThe general word for bad luck or being unlucky. 「数奇」 stresses a fate full of dramatic ups and downs, often as 「数奇な運命」.
  • Synonym不幸ふこうNeutralCovers unhappiness and misfortune, and can politely refer to a relative's death. 「数奇」 stresses a life of dramatic, eventful turns rather than plain unhappiness.
  • Synonym不遇ふぐうWrittenA written, formal word for talent going unrewarded, as in 「不遇の天才」; it stresses being denied the position or treatment one deserves.
  • Synonym不幸せふしあわせNeutralMeans not being happy, with the focus on one's feelings. 「数奇」 is about a fate full of strange ups and downs, not about feeling unhappy.
  • Related気の毒きのどくNeutralAbout feeling sorry for someone else's misfortune — the focus is the observer's sympathy, not the fate itself, which is what 「数奇」 describes.
  • Related薄幸はっこうWrittenWritten and formal, said mostly of women: ill-fated or hapless, as in 「薄幸の美女」. 「数奇」 describes an eventful fate, not simply an unhappy one.
  • RelatedアンラッキーCasualColloquial loanword for unlucky, usually about momentary bad luck. 「数奇」 refers to a whole life of dramatic twists and turns.

Use 「数奇」 for a checkered, eventful fate, as in 「数奇な運命をたどる」. Plain bad luck is 「不運」, unhappiness 「不幸」, unrecognized talent 「不遇」, ill-fated (usu. of women) 「薄幸」. 「気の毒」 adds sympathy, 「アンラッキー」 is casual one-off bad luck, 「不幸せ」 is feeling unhappy.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

Japanese definitions
  1. 不運ふうんなこと。
Kanji in this word
English equivalents
See also

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