Japanese

Alternative forms

• 豪い

Adjective

偉い ‎(-i inflection, hiragana えらい, romaji erai)

1. (morally) noble, honorable, admirable, great

   偉 (えら)い行為 (こうい)

   erai kōi

   an honorable deed

2. (of status) noble, superior

   偉 (えら)い連中 (れんちゅう)

   erai renchū

   noble fellows / superior fellows

3. (casual) serious, terrible

   えらい目 (め)に遭 (あ)った。

   Erai me ni atta.

   I met a terrible occurrence.

4. (casual) terribly, very

   今日 (きょう)はえらく寒 (さむ)いな。

   Kyō wa eraku samui na.

   It's terribly cold today.

5. (Chubu, Kansai, Chugoku) tired, hard

   • ちいと仕事 (しごと)がえらかった時 (とき)には間 (あい)にパンなり買 (か)ってやれ

     Chīto shigoto ga erakatta toki ni wa ai ni pan nari katte yare

     When he gets a little tired with work, buy bread or something for him in his spare moments

Usage notes

Excluding the "noble" usage, this term is usually written in hiragana えらい ‎(erai) and sometimes written in katakana エライ ‎(erai) or エラい ‎(erai) for casual/ironical usages.

Synonyms

• (honorable): 素晴 (すば)らしい ‎(subarashii), 清 (きよ)い ‎(kiyoi), 立派 (りっぱ) ‎(rippa)
• (superior): 貴 (たっと)い ‎(tattoi)
• (terrible): 酷 (ひど)い ‎(hidoi)
• (terribly): とても ‎(totemo)
• (tired): きつい ‎(kitsui), しんどい ‎(shindoi)

Antonyms

• (honorable): 卑 (いや)しい ‎(iyashii), 汚 (きたな)い ‎(kitanai), さもしい ‎(samoshii) (despicable)
• (superior): 賎 (いや)しい ‎(iyashii), しがない ‎(shiganai) (inferior)

Inflection