JLPT N2 · な-adjective

皮肉 (hiniku)

皮肉 (ひにく, hiniku) is a Japanese な-adjective meaning “irony; sarcasm”. It appears in JLPT N2 vocabulary lists and is marked as a common word in JMdict.

Reading: ひにく
Romaji: hiniku
Word class: な-adjective
Level: JLPT N2 (unofficial)

Meaning

irony; sarcasm; cynicism; satire · noun, な-adjective, noun taking の
unexpected; different from what one expected; not as one had planned · な-adjective, noun taking の, noun
(only) surface; something superficial · noun
skin and bone; body · noun · archaic · literal meaning

Example sentences

私はあなたの皮肉な言葉は聞き捨てにはできません。

I resent your cynical remarks.

Tatoeba #161647

Sentences from the Tatoeba project, linked to this word in JMdict.

Conjugation of 皮肉

な-adjective. Plain and polite forms below; try any other word in the Japanese verb conjugator.

Form	Japanese	Reading
Present (plain)	皮肉だ	ひにくだ hinikuda
Present (polite)	皮肉です	ひにくです hinikudesu
Negative	皮肉じゃない	ひにくじゃない hinikujanai
Past	皮肉だった	ひにくだった hinikudatta
Negative past	皮肉じゃなかった	ひにくじゃなかった hinikujanakatta
Te-form	皮肉で	ひにくで hinikude
Before a noun	皮肉な	ひにくな hinikuna
Adverb (~ni)	皮肉に	ひにくに hinikuni

Kanji in 皮肉

皮

pelt, skin, hideヒ・かわ · 5 strokes

肉

meatニク・しし · 6 strokes

Related words

Other vocabulary sharing a kanji with 皮肉.

皮かわskin毛皮けがわfur皮膚ひふskin肉にくflesh牛肉ぎゅうにくbeef鶏肉とりにくchicken meat豚肉ぶたにくpork筋肉きんにくmuscle肉親にくしんblood relationship肉体にくたいthe body

Source: JMdict entry 1483900 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0). Level: unofficial JLPT list – how levels are assigned.