痛い (itai) means “painful” or “it hurts.” It most often describes physical pain, such as a sore tooth, but it can also describe emotional pain, a damaging expense, or a socially embarrassing person. The slang judgment is informal and can sound unkind.
also itai / itakatta / 痛み / 痛い人
it hurts · painful, costly · cringeworthy (slang)
Sentences
6 sentences, word by word
痛い · a body part
polite
。
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朝
あさ ［1］
morning
noun · 朝から means since the morning
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から
から
since; from
particle · the starting point in time
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頭
あたま ［3,2］
head
noun · also used for 'brains' — 頭がいい
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が
が
marks the subject
particle · what the sentence is about — with 好き, 分かる and potentials, the object
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痛い
いたい ［2］
hurts
い-adjective · the aching part takes が
痛いN5it hurts
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です
です
polite copula
copula · い-adjective ＋ です with no だ
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I've had a headache since this morning.
痛かった · a fall
plain past
。
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昨日
きのう ［2］
yesterday
noun used adverbially · no particle needed
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転んで
ころんで
fell over and
て-form of 転ぶ · chains to the next clause
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すごく
すごく
really; very
adverb from すごい · casual intensifier
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痛かった
いたかった
it hurt
past of 痛い · い swaps for かった
痛いN5it hurts
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I fell over yesterday and it really hurt.
痛い出費 · a costly hit
plain
。
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車
くるま ［0］
car
noun · read くるま; しゃ only in compounds
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の
の
links noun to noun
particle · A の B = B belonging to A
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修理
しゅうり ［1］
repair
noun · 修理する makes it a verb
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は
は
as for — the topic
particle · written は, read わ
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痛い
いたい ［2］
painful; costly
い-adjective attributive · the loss sense, not the body
痛いN5painful · costly
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出費
しゅっぴ ［0］
expense; outlay
noun · 出 out ＋ 費 expense
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だった
だった
was
past plain copula · です past is でした
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Fixing the car was a painful expense.
痛いところを突く
plain past
。
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その
その
that
demonstrative · pointing at what was just said
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質問
しつもん ［0］
question
noun · 質問する to ask one
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は
は
as for — the topic
particle · written は, read わ
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痛いところ
いたいところ
a sore spot
fixed phrase · the weak point you would rather not discuss
痛いN5sore · painful
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を
を
marks the direct object
particle · pronounced お
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突いていた
ついていた
was hitting; had struck
て-form of 突く ＋ いた · the state of having landed
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That question hit a sore spot.
痛い人 · the slang sense
plain
。
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正直
しょうじき ［3］
honestly
noun used adverbially · 正直に言うと in full
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あの
あの
that — we both know the one
demonstrative · distant from both speakers
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投稿
とうこう ［0］
post; submission
noun · online posts and letters to the editor alike
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は
は
as for — the topic
particle · written は, read わ
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ちょっと
ちょっと
a bit
adverb · softening a verdict that is not soft
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痛い
いたい ［2］
cringeworthy
い-adjective · the slang sense, never said to the person
痛いN5cringe · painful
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な
な
reflective final particle
particle · musing to yourself rather than addressing someone
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Honestly, that post was a bit cringe.
痛くない · reassuring someone
polite
、。
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大丈夫
だいじょうぶ ［3］
it's fine; don't worry
な-adjective · used alone as reassurance
大丈夫N5fine · okay
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ですよ
ですよ
polite, with reassurance
です ＋ よ · the よ offers the listener new information
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痛くない
いたくない
won't hurt
negative of 痛い · い becomes くない
痛いN5it hurts
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です
です
polite copula
copula · 痛くないです or 痛くありません, both fine
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から
から
because; so
particle · giving the reason for the reassurance
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Don't worry, it won't hurt.
Forms
How does 痛い attach?
Body part ＋ が＋痛い
頭が痛い. The part that hurts takes が, not を — Japanese treats the ache as something the part does, not something you do to it.
痛い＋出費 / ミス / 敗戦
痛い出費, 痛いミス. A cost or a mistake that really hurts. Extremely common in business talk and sports commentary.
痛い＋人 / 発言 / 投稿
痛い人. Cringeworthy. Never say it to their face — this one lives in group chats and behind backs.
痛いところ＋を突く
痛いところを突かれた. You hit a sore spot. A fixed phrase for the question you did not want to be asked.
Meaning
痛い vs 辛い vs 苦しい — three kinds of hurt
痛い is local and immediate. A tooth, a knee, a burn — the pain has an address, and the sentence usually names it. This is the sense a doctor is working with, and it is the natural one of the three for a paper cut.
辛い（つらい）is a situation you are inside of. A job, a month, a grief. It commonly describes the experience as hard to bear. 別れが辛い is the parting being hard to bear; 別れが痛い is less usual in this sense, though 痛い has figurative emotional uses.
苦しい is pressure. Breathing, money, being cornered. 息が苦しい, 生活が苦しい. It overlaps with 痛い in the body and with 辛い in life, and its own contribution is the feeling of being squeezed rather than struck.
The slang sense is a different register entirely.痛い人 means embarrassing to watch — the middle-aged man posting like a teenager, the person whose jokes nobody laughs at. It is unkind, it is very common online, and it is roughly what English means by cringe.
Inside the kanji
痛 — the sickness radical
痛 — 疒 plus 甬
The frame on the left is 疒, the sickness radical, which you also meet in 病 illness and 疲 tiredness. Spotting that radical tells you a character is about the body going wrong, even before you know the reading.
The つう compounds
The on reading gives you the medical vocabulary: 頭痛 headache, 腹痛 stomachache, 腰痛 back pain, 鎮痛剤 painkiller. Learn the pattern once and a whole pharmacy shelf becomes readable.
痛感 — feeling it keenly
痛感する means to realise something painfully — 力不足を痛感した, I felt my own inadequacy sharply. It is formal, common in speeches and apologies, and a good example of the character carrying weight far from any actual injury.
Watch out
Where 痛い goes wrong
Marking the sore part with を
頭が痛い, never 頭を痛い. 痛い is an adjective, not a verb, so nothing takes an object. The same trap catches 好き and 上手.
Using 痛い for a hard time
A gruelling week is 辛い, not 痛い. The non-physical uses of 痛い are narrow: a costly loss, a sore point, and the slang sense. Everything else about hardship belongs to 辛い or 苦しい.
Calling someone 痛い to their face
The slang sense is genuinely insulting — it says you are embarrassing and do not know it. It is fine among friends about a third party, and it is a real attack when aimed at the person in front of you.
Also asked
Questions people ask about 痛い
What's the difference between 痛い and 辛い?
痛い is pain with a location — a tooth, a knee, a specific loss. 辛い（つらい）is a situation you have to keep living inside. Say 歯が痛い and 仕事が辛い, never the other way round.
Why is it 頭が痛い and not 頭を痛い?
痛い is an adjective. Adjectives describe a subject, and the subject here is the head — so it takes が. The same shape governs 水が好き and 日本語が上手.
What does 痛い人 mean?
Cringeworthy — someone trying too hard and oblivious to how it reads. It came out of internet culture in the 2000s and is now ordinary spoken slang. It is a judgement made behind someone's back, not to their face.
What is 痛い出費?
An expense that really hurts — an unplanned repair, a fine, a big bill in a thin month. The same shape gives you 痛いミス, a costly mistake, which you will hear constantly in sports commentary.
痛み or 痛い — which does a doctor use?
The noun. 痛みはありますか, is there pain, and どこが痛いですか, where does it hurt. Both come up; the noun version is the more clinical of the two.
What does 痛いところを突かれた mean?
You hit a sore spot — someone asked exactly the question you were hoping to avoid. It is passive, so the speaker is the one who got hit, and it is said with a rueful laugh rather than with anger.
