adverbial N3 common casualpolitewritten
〜気味 — -ish / a touch of / showing signs of ~
〜気味 ・ ぎみ
Builds on 連用形（ます形）
Meaning
- a touch of ~ / slightly ~ / showing signs of ~ — a slight degree or early onset of a state, usually an unwelcome one
Almost always describes something undesirable, and only a slight amount — 'a bit / a touch,' not a full-blown state.
Key sentence
風邪気味なので、今日は早く帰ります。
I've got a touch of a cold, so I'll head home early today.
Formation
| Attaches to | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun / Verb (ます-stem) | N + 気味; V(stem) + 気味 | 疲れ気味 / 太り気味 / 遅れ気味 |
Examples
最近ちょっと太り気味で、運動を始めた。
I've been gaining a bit of weight lately, so I started exercising.
電車は少し遅れ気味で運行しています。
The trains are running slightly behind schedule.
Easily confused with
〜がち 気味 is a slight degree of a state felt now (疲れ気味 = 'a bit tired'). がち is a recurring tendency over time (疲れがち = 'prone to getting tired,' happens often). っぽい 気味 marks a faint onset of a condition (太り気味 = 'putting on a little weight'). っぽい says something has or resembles a quality (子供っぽい = 'childish').
See 〜気味 in real sentences
Jengo shows 〜気味 the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Intermediate Japanese Grammar.