Word
親しい
Meaning in Englishclose, intimate, familiar
Animated kanji stroke order
Word context
What it means
What does 親しい mean? It denotes a warm, comfortable closeness in a relationship, indicating you know someone well and feel at ease with them; it describes people you interact with regularly in a friendly, trusting way.
Main meanings
- a close relationship or sense of familiarity between people
- a friendly, easy rapport; a warm social tone when referring to someone
- used in compounds to express closeness such as 親しい友人
- often contrasts with formal distance or distant attitudes
How to use it
Used in casual to semi formal contexts to describe someone you know well; marks closeness as a social attribute rather than a formal bond; common patterns include 親しい人, 親しい関係, 親しくする; not appropriate for describing distant or official relationships.
Variants and close terms
- 親密な (shinmitsu na) — close, intimate
- 仲の良い (naka no yoi) — on good terms, friendly
- 疎遠な (soen na) — distant, estranged
- 無関係な (mukankeina) — unrelated
Composition
- 親: root meaning close, intimate; also used for parent in other contexts
- しい: common i-adjective suffix that marks a property
Word class
i-adjective (形容詞)