難い

From Old Japanese. The meaning developed from 堅い (katai, “hard, stiff, immovable”) to overtones of difficult.^[1][2] Compare the similar development of English hard.

The difficult meaning was already apparent in the Man'yōshū, completed in the latter half of the 700s.

• (Tokyo) かたい (Heiban – )^[2]
• IPA^(key):

難(かた)い • (katai) -i (adverbial 難(かた)く (kataku))

1. (archaic) difficult
   • c. 759, Man’yōshū, book 14, poem 3401:
     , text here:

     中(なか)麻(ま)奈(な)尓(に)、宇(う)伎(き)乎(を)流(る)布(ふ)祢(ね)能(の)、許(こ)藝(ぎ)弖(で)奈(な)婆(ば)、安(あ)布(ふ)許(こ)等(と)可(か)多(た)思(し)、家(け)布(ふ)尓(に)思(し)安(あ)良(ら)受(ず)波(は)

     Nakamana ni, ukiworu fune no, kogidenaba, afu koto katasi, kefu ni siarazu fa.

     If you go out rowing the boat floating on the Nakamana , meeting would be difficult, if we don't do it today.

This term is seldom used as an independent term in modern Japanese. It appears much more commonly as a suffix, as described below.

Shift in pronunciation from katai above, as this term became more of a fused suffix than an independent term.^[1][2] The katai changes to gatai as an instance of rendaku (連濁).

• IPA^(key):

難(がた)い • (-gatai) -i (adverbial 難(がた)く (-gataku))

1. difficult or hard to do

   This suffix attaches to the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of a verb to express the difficulty of doing the action.

   • c. 935: Tosa Nikki, page 3^[3]

     年(とし)頃(ごろ)よく比(くら)べつる人人(ひとびと)なむ、別(わか)れ難(がた)く思(おも)ひて、日(ひ)しきりに、とかくしつつ、ののしるうちに、夜(よ)更(ふ)けぬ。

     Toshigoro yoku kurabetsuru hitobito namu, wakaregataku omoite, hi shikiri ni, tokaku shitsutsu, nonoshiru uchi ni, yo fukenu.

     Those who were close for many years found it difficult to part, and while boisterously getting things done all day, the night deepened.

Usually spelled in hiragana, with the kanji spelling usually reserved for formal contexts.

• 難(にく)い (-nikui) (emphasis on “disagreeable to do”; see below)
• 辛(づら)い (-zurai) (emphasis on “painful to do”)

• 易(やす)い (-yasui)

Derived as the suffixization of Old Japanese adjective 憎い (nikui, “disagreeable, dislikeable”, modern “hateful, abominable”).^[1][2] Cognate with 憎む (nikumu, “to hate”).^[2]

• 悪い (rare)

• IPA^(key):

難(にく)い • (-nikui) -i (adverbial 難(にく)く (-nikuku))

1. difficult or hard to do (emphasis on the disagreeability of performing the action)

   This suffix attaches to the 連用形 (ren'yōkei, “continuative or stem form”) of a verb to express the difficulty of doing the action.

More commonly spelled in hiragana, as にくい.

• 難(がた)い (-gatai) (emphasis on “hard to do”; see above)
• 辛(づら)い (-zurai) (emphasis on “painful to do”)

• 易(やす)い (-yasui)