kimochi warui 気持ち悪い

In Japanese, kimochi warui 気持ち悪い, means literally "of bad feeling," or "unpleasant." It's an expression used when something "feels bad," like when it's gross, creepy, disgusting, cringey, or simply when you don't feel well about it. Grammatically, it's an i-adjective.

Sometimes, kimochi warui is abbreviated to kimoi キモい.

And for the love of all that's holy do not search for 気持ち悪い on Google images. You don't want to do it. Trust me.

Manga: Goblin Slayer, ゴブリンスレイヤー (Chapter 6)

• Grammar
• Usage
  
  • "Gross"
  • "Creepy"
  • "Disturbing"
• Conjugation
  
  • 気持ち悪かった
  • 気持ち悪くない
  • 気持ち悪く
  • 気持ち悪くて

Grammar

The word kimochi warui 気持ち悪い means that something "feels bad." Literally, it's the word for "feeling," kimochi 気持ち, plus "bad," warui 悪い.

The antonym, "feels good," is kimochi-ii 気持ちいい, since ii いい, "good," is the antonym of "bad," warui 悪い.

Note, however, that kimochi warui isn't a verb, "to feel bad," it's adjective, "that feels bad." Grammatically, kimochi warui is closer to "unpleasant" in English, but in practice it has the sense of "feels gross" or "feels creepy" most of the time.

Furthermore, from an English perspective, it's weird for an adjective to be alone in a sentence. Normally you don't say "fast," you say "it's fast." This is called a "dummy it." There's no "it" in Japanese, which is why kimochi warui is said alone in Japanese.

• kimochi warui! 気持ち悪い！
  [It's] bad-feeling!
  [It's] unpleasant!
  [It's] gross!
  [It's] creepy!
  [It's] disgusting!
  [It's] cringey!
  [It feels bad]!

Usage

For reference, some examples of things that are kimochi warui 気持ち悪い.

"Gross"

Manga: Goblin Slayer, ゴブリンスレイヤー (Chapter 6)

• Context: you get used to it.
• uee...
  うぇぇ･･･
  Eeeeugh...
• kusai...
  臭い･･･
  [It] stinks... (another adjective that gets translated like a verb.)
• kimochi warui yoo...
  気持ち悪いよぉ･･･
  [This is] gross...

"Creepy"

Manga: Doraemon ドラえもん (Chapter 1)

• Context: Nobita hears a voice telling him things.
• dare da,
  hen-na koto
  iu yatsu wa.
  だれだ、へんなこというやつは。
  Who is it, the one [who] says weird things?
• dete-koi'
  出てこいっ。
  [Show yourself]!
  • dete-koi 出て来い
    (imperative form of.)
  • dete-kuru 出て来る
    To leave and come. (i.e. to leave wherever they're hiding and come face Nobita.)
• .........dare mo inai.
  ･････････だれもいない。
  .........there's nobody [here].
• kimochi warui naa.
  気持ち悪いなあ。
  [This is] unpleasant, uh.
  [This is] creepy, uh.

"Disturbing"

Manga: Gintama 銀魂 (Chapter 20, 飼い主とペットは似る)

• Context: ⊂(◉ ө ◉)⊃
• nanda sore
  kimochi waru!!
  なんだそれ気持ちワル！！
  What's that, [it's] disturbing!!

Conjugation

Since kimochi warui 気持ち悪い ends in an i-adjective, it can be inflected like an i-adjective.

Kimochi Warukatta 気持ち悪かった

The word kimochi warukatta 気持ち悪かった is the past inflection: "felt bad," "was unpleasant," "was gross," "isn't creepy," "was disturbing." That is, it refers to something that was kimochi warui in the past.

Kimochi Warukunai 気持ち悪くない

The word kimochi warukunai 気持ち悪くない is the negative inflection: doesn't feel bad," "isn't unpleasant," "isn't gross," "isn't creepy," "isn't disturbing."

This is often used when someone calls something kimochi warui, and then the speaker, who has a... uh... *cough* peculiar *cough cough* taste, denies that it's kimochi warui.

Manga: Gintama 銀魂 (Chapter 20, 飼い主とペットは似る)

• kimochi warukunai!
  Erizabesu da
  気持ち悪くない！エリザベスだ
  [It's] not disturbing! It's Elizabeth.
• tantai de miru to
  soo demo nee ga
  単体で見るとそーでもねーが
  If [you] look at it separately it's not so but
  • soo demo nee そーでもねー
    sou demo nai そうでもない
    It's not like that.
• omae to setto ni naru to
  kimochi warii yo
  お前とセットになると気持ちワリーよ
  [when] it's in [accompanied by] you it's gross.
• tteiuka
  omae ga
  kimochi warui!
  っていうかお前が気持ち悪い！
  Or rather you are gross!

Kimochi Waruku 気持ち悪く

The word kimochi waruku 気持ち悪く is the adverbial form of kimochi warui, which means it modifies verbs, actions, not nouns.

Although, most of the time it's used with the verb naru なる, "to become."

• kimochi waruku naru
  気持ち悪くなる
  To become [so it's] unpleasant.
• kimochi waruku natta
  気持ち悪くなった
  To have become [so it's] unpleasant.
  • i.e. "now it's starting to feel gross," and so on.

Kimochi Warukute 気持ち悪くて

The word kimochi warukute 気持ち悪くて is the te-form of kimochi warui. It's often used to say that something is so or something happens because it's kimochi warui. For example:

• kimochi warukute haita
  気持ち悪くて吐いた
  [It's] gross [so I] vomited.
  [I] felt bad [so I] vomited.
  • haku 吐く
    To vomit.
• kimochi warukute hakisou
  気持ち悪くて吐きそう
  [I] feel bad [so it] seems [I will] vomit.
  It's so gross I feel I'm going to vomit.
  I feel so bad I feel I'm going to vomit.
  • hakisou 吐きそう
    To seem like [I] will vomit.
    (haku 吐く plus sou そう suffix.)
• kimochi warukute nerenai
  気持ち悪くて寝れない
  [It] feels bad [so I] can't sleep.
  I'm not feeling well so I can't sleep.
  • nerenai 寝れない
    (negative potential of)
  • neru 寝る
    To sleep.

Conversely, when you have something in the te-form connected to kimochi warui, it usually explains why it's kimochi warui:

• nurukute kimochiwarui
  温くて気持ち悪い
  It's lukewarm and gross.
  It's gross [because] it's lukewarm.
  • nurui 温い
    Lukewarm. (i-adjective.)
• nurunuru de kimochi warui
  ヌルヌルで気持ち悪い
  It's slimy and gross.
  It's gross [because] it's slimy.
  • nurunuru ヌルヌル
    Slimy. Slippery. (na-adjective and mimetic word.)
• tabesugite kimochi warui
  食べすぎて気持ち悪い
  [I] ate too much [now I] feel bad.
  • tabe-sugiru 食べ過ぎる
    To eat too much.
  • taberu 食べる
    To eat.
  • sugiru 過ぎる
    To surpass. (normal verb.)
    To do it too much. (auxiliary verb.)