Meaning

Primary

Few

Alternatives

Not Much, Not Many, Scarce

Word Type

い adjective

Explanation

This word has a single kanji with hiragana attached, ending in a . This means you know it's an adjective. What is the adjective form of few? It's also few, as in not much or not many of something.

Reading

すくない
  • Kyoko
    (Tokyo accent, female)
  • Kenichi
    (Tokyo accent, male)

Explanation

The reading for this one is fairly difficult, as it's the kun'yomi reading (you can tell it's kun'yomi because of all the hiragana attached). You have to remember the すく part to remember the reading of this word. Think of it this way:

You live in an area with very few schools (すく). Maybe you're in rural Japan, where schools decrease year by year due to the shrinking population. Since there are so few schools now, you have to commute to the next town over to get an education. It's a little inconvenient, but hey — a few schools is better than no schools.

Context

Patterns of Use

Common Word Combinations

  • とても少ない

    very few

    かなり少ない

    quite few

    きわめて少ない

    extremely few

Context Sentences

このエリアには白人やアジア人は少ないです。

There are few Caucasians and Asians in this area.

のこり少ないトイレットペーパー、大切にしよう。

Let's make good use of the toilet paper, as there's not much left.

友人が少ないことは、わるいことじゃない。

It's not a bad thing to have few friends.

Kanji Composition