JLPT N2 · い-adjective

惜しい (oshii)

惜しい (おしい, oshii) is a Japanese い-adjective meaning “regrettable; disappointing”. It appears in JLPT N2 vocabulary lists and is marked as a common word in JMdict.

Reading: おしい
Romaji: oshii
Word class: い-adjective
Level: JLPT N2 (unofficial)

Meaning

regrettable; disappointing; unfortunate · い-adjective
precious; dear; valuable · い-adjective
too good for; deserving better · い-adjective
almost (but not quite); close (but no cigar) · い-adjective

Example sentences

あなたほどの才能の持ち主が世間に知られずにいるのは惜しいことです。

It is a pity that a man of your ability should remain unknown to the world.

Tatoeba #231479

命は誰でも惜しい。

Life is dear to everybody.

Tatoeba #80750

これはまだ捨てるには惜しい。

This is still too good to be thrown away.

Tatoeba #218520

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

Conjugation of 惜しい

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

Form	Japanese	Reading
Present	惜しい	おしい oshii
Negative	惜しくない	おしくない oshikunai
Past	惜しかった	おしかった oshikatta
Negative past	惜しくなかった	おしくなかった oshikunakatta
Te-form	惜しくて	おしくて oshikute
Adverb (~ku)	惜しく	おしく oshiku
Conditional (~ba)	惜しければ	おしければ oshikereba

Kanji in 惜しい

惜

pity, be sparing of, frugalセキ・お.しい・お.しむ · 11 strokes

Related words

Other vocabulary sharing a kanji with 惜しい.

惜しむおしむto spare

Source: JMdict entry 1382280 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0). Level: unofficial JLPT list – how levels are assigned.