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ばかばかしい Japanese meaning | Kotomora
JLPT N2 Freq. Frequency Top 20,000 Conjugation Meanings 1
i-adjective
absurd ; ridiculous ; silly ; foolish
usually written using kana alone
Expresses that something is so foolish or unreasonable that it's laughable or not worth taking seriously. Often used when the speaker feels exasperation or disbelief.
It's absurd to fail at something this simple.
Written forms ばかばかしい Usage 46%
Usually written in kana; the kanji forms are rare or search-only.
バカバカしい Usage 25%
kana-only spelling
Katakana spelling, sometimes used for emphasis or in informal writing.
馬ば 鹿か 馬ば 鹿か しい Usage 24%
Kanji spelling; rarely used in practice.
馬ば 鹿か ばかしい Usage 4%
莫迦ばか 莫迦ばか しい Usage 1%
Kanji 莫 must not, do not, be not Similar words 馬ば 鹿か らしい Similar meaning, but ばかばかしい often feels stronger or more emphatic, emphasizing the extreme foolishness or absurdity.
馬ば 鹿か げる Verb form meaning 'to be absurd'; ばかばかしい is an adjective describing the state.
Etymology Derived from 馬鹿 (ばか, 'fool') reduplicated with the adjective-forming suffix しい, literally 'fool-fool-ish'. The exact historical derivation is uncertain, but it follows a common pattern for emphatic adjectives.
(used phonetically)