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Definition 2024


偉い

偉い

Japanese

Kanji in this term
Grade: S

Alternative forms

Adjective

偉い (-i inflection, hiragana えらい, romaji erai)

  1. (morally) noble, honorable, admirable, great
     (えら)行為 (こうい)
    erai kōi
    an honorable deed
  2. (of status) noble, superior
     (えら)連中 (れんちゅう)
    erai renchū
    noble fellows / superior fellows
  3. (casual) serious, terrible
    えらい () ()った。
    Erai me ni atta.
    I met a terrible occurrence.
  4. (casual) terribly, very
    今日 (きょう)えらく (さむ)いな。
    Kyō wa eraku samui na.
    It's terribly cold today.
  5. (Chubu, Kansai, Chugoku) tired, hard
    • ちいと仕事 (しごと)えらかった (とき)には (あい)にパンなり ()ってやれ
      Chīto shigoto ga erakatta toki ni wa ai ni pan nari katte yare
      When he gets a little tired with work, buy bread or something for him in his spare moments

Usage notes

Excluding the "noble" usage, this term is usually written in hiragana えらい (erai) and sometimes written in katakana エライ (erai) or エラい (erai) for casual/ironical usages.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Inflection