〜気味

Touch Of/slight

Level 3Sounds Like kimi

〜気味 (ぎみ) is used to express that someone is feeling 'a touch of' or 'a bit' of a certain state. It is most commonly used for negative physical conditions (like a cold) or psychological states (like nervousness).

How It Works

1. Meaning and Nuance
〜気味 (ぎみ) indicates that a state is starting to appear or is present to a small degree. It is subjective, based on the speaker's perception or feeling. While it is predominantly used for negative or undesirable states (fatigue, illness, weight gain), it can also describe neutral states involving tension, such as 緊張気味（きんちょうぎみ - a bit nervous） or 興奮気味（こうふんぎみ - a touch excited).

2. Formation

  • Noun + 気味: 風邪気味（かぜぎみ - a touch of a cold）, 寝不足気味（ねぶそくぎみ - a bit sleep-deprived）
  • Verb (ます-stem) + 気味: 太り気味（ふとりぎみ - a bit overweight/gaining weight）, 遅れ気味（おくれぎみ - running a bit late）

3. Grammatical Usage
Because it acts like a な-adjective, you will see it used in these ways:

  • Sentence ending: 最近、疲れ気味だ。(I've been feeling a bit tired lately.)
  • Modifying a noun: 風邪気味の時は、早く寝たほうがいい。(When you have a touch of a cold, it's better to sleep early.)
  • As an adverb: 彼は緊張気味に話し始めた。(He started talking a bit nervously.)

Examples (4)

  1. 今日は少し風邪気味なので、早く寝ることにします。

    I have a touch of a cold today, so I've decided to go to bed early.

    Word by Word: Today (topic) a little cold-feeling because, early sleep (decided).

    風邪 (cold) is a noun. Adding 気味 shows the speaker isn't fully sick yet but feels the onset of a cold.

  2. 最近、残業続きで疲れ気味の人が多いです。

    Lately, there are many people who are feeling a bit tired due to continuous overtime.

    Word by Word: Recently, overtime continuation by tired-feeling people (subject) are many.

    疲れ is the ます-stem of 疲れる (to get tired). Here it is used with の to modify the noun 'people'.

  3. 新入社員は、緊張気味に自己紹介をしました。

    The new employee introduced themselves with a touch of nervousness.

    Word by Word: New employee (topic), nervousness-feeling-ly self-introduction (object) did.

    緊張 (nervousness) is a noun. Adding 気味に turns it into an adverbial phrase describing how they introduced themselves.

  4. このところ、運動不足で太り気味だ。

    Lately, I've been gaining a bit of weight due to lack of exercise.

    Word by Word: Lately, exercise-lack by fat-tendency is.

    太り is the ます-stem of 太る (to get fat). It describes a current developing state.

Common Mistakes

  • Using it for positive emotions.

    合格して、嬉し気味です。
    合格して、とても嬉しいです。

    気味 is almost exclusively for negative or undesirable states. You cannot use it for positive feelings like 'a bit happy' (嬉し気味).

  • Confusing current state (気味) with habitual tendency (がち).

    冬は風邪をひき気味だ。
    冬は風邪をひきがちだ。

    気味 describes how you feel now (a touch of a cold). がち describes something that happens often or habitually (tending to catch colds in winter).

  • Attaching it directly to adjectives.

    今日は暑気味ですね。
    今日は少し暑いですね。

    気味 cannot attach to adjective stems. It only attaches to nouns or verb stems. For 'a bit hot,' just use an adverb like 少し (a little).

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

〜気味Level 3Touch Of/slight

Learn This First

To understand 〜気味, a learner needs to know how to extract verb stems (ます-form stems) and how nouns function in sentences, as this pattern is often used with nouns (like 風邪) or verb stems (like 太り) to describe a slight physical or mental state.

Words in This Pattern