気味（きみ、kimi）
- feeling

The Japanese word 気味, pronounced きみ, is a suffix that indicates a "feeling," "tendency," "hint," or "trace" of something. It's used to describe a slight inclination or impression, often related to a state, emotion, or characteristic. It suggests a feeling or quality is present, but not necessarily overwhelmingly so. The presence of 気味 implies a degree of that feeling or characteristic.

⚫︎寒気味です。 Translation: I feel a little cold. ⚫︎彼はお酒に弱気味です。 Translation: He tends to be weak with alcohol. ⚫︎疲気味なので、今日は早く寝ます。 Translation: Because I feel a bit tired, I'll go to bed early today.

⚫︎気味 is used as a suffix, following the stem of a word. ⚫︎It's generally attached to adjectives, verbs, or nouns to modify their meaning. ⚫︎It's suitable in casual and polite conversation, as it softens the intensity of the adjective or state. ⚫︎It’s often used when expressing a subtle or tentative feeling. ⚫︎It can be used to avoid making strong, definitive statements, making it sound more cautious and less direct.

⚫︎気味 is typically written in hiragana. The kanji 気 (ki) means "feeling" or "spirit", and 味 (mi) means "taste" or "flavor". However, when used as a suffix, it's almost always written in hiragana. ⚫︎There are no other ways to write 気味 as a suffix. ⚫︎There are no variations in the okurigana.

⚫︎感じ(kanji) - "feeling," "sense" ⚫︎傾向(keikou) - "tendency" ⚫︎っぽ[い](ppo[i]) - another suffix indicating a characteristic or tendency (often more pronounced than 気味) ⚫︎気配(kehai) - "sign", "indication" (often used for something not directly felt, like 気配 of rain)

There aren't direct antonyms, as 気味 describes a nuanced or subtle state. However, words expressing the absence of the feeling or characteristic could be considered opposites in a conceptual sense.

最近、少し風邪気味です。 ・Translation: I feel a little like I have a cold recently. ・Explanation: The speaker is not strongly sick, but experiencing some symptoms of a cold.

このスープは少し塩辛気味だね。 ・Translation: This soup is a little salty. ・Explanation: The soup has a taste of saltiness, but not overly so.

The word comes from the kanji 気 (ki) meaning "spirit," "mind," or "feeling," and 味 (mi) meaning "taste" or "flavor." The combination of these two kanji, or the hiragana version 気味, implies a subtle "taste" or "flavor" of something emotional or physical.