JLPT N2 · い-adjective

鈍い (nibui)

鈍い (にぶい, nibui) is a Japanese い-adjective meaning “dull (e.g. a knife); blunt”. It appears in JLPT N2 vocabulary lists and is marked as a common word in JMdict.

Reading: にぶい
Romaji: nibui
Word class: い-adjective
Level: JLPT N2 (unofficial)

Meaning

dull (e.g. a knife); blunt · い-adjective
thickheaded; obtuse; stupid · い-adjective
dull (sound, color, etc.); dim (light) · い-adjective
slow; sluggish; inert; lethargic · い-adjective
insensitive; dull (e.g. reflexes); unperceptive; unfeeling · い-adjective

Example sentences

確かに彼は少々にぶいが勤勉だ。

Indeed he may be a little dull, but he is diligent.

Tatoeba #184566

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

Conjugation of 鈍い

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

Form	Japanese	Reading
Present	鈍い	にぶい nibui
Negative	鈍くない	にぶくない nibukunai
Past	鈍かった	にぶかった nibukatta
Negative past	鈍くなかった	にぶくなかった nibukunakatta
Te-form	鈍くて	にぶくて nibukute
Adverb (~ku)	鈍く	にぶく nibuku
Conditional (~ba)	鈍ければ	にぶければ nibukereba

Kanji in 鈍い

鈍

dull, slow, foolishドン・にぶ.い・にぶ.る · 12 strokes

Related words

Other vocabulary sharing a kanji with 鈍い.

鈍感どんかんthickheaded鈍るにぶるto become blunt

Source: JMdict entry 1582430 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0). Level: unofficial JLPT list – how levels are assigned.