低い
ひくい
hikui
= low (in height, position, pitch, temperature, level, or status)
Hikui (低い) is the essential N5 word for describing anything low — height, position, pitch, temperature, or probability. Learners often assume it works as a perfect mirror of its opposite, takai (高い), but there is one crucial gap: takai covers both tall/high and expensive, while hikui only ever means low. It never means cheap.
Hikui is an i-adjective describing something below average in height, position, level, pitch, or likelihood. Physical height: se ga hikui (背が低い, short in stature) or hikui yama (低い山, a low mountain). Position or level: reberu ga hikui (レベルが低い, a low level) or kion ga hikui (気温が低い, low temperature). Sound: hikui koe (低い声) describes a low or deep voice, not a quiet one. Probability or status: kanousei ga hikui (可能性が低い, low probability). As an i-adjective it conjugates regularly: negative hikukunai (低くない, not low), past hikukatta (低かった, was low), and the connective form hikukute (低くて, low and…). The key contrast to remember: hikui is only ever about lowness — the opposite of expensive is yasui (安い, cheap), not hikui.
The biggest trap is the 高い/低い asymmetry: takai doubles as both high and expensive, but hikui never means cheap — that job belongs entirely to yasui (安い). Saying nedan ga hikui (値段が低い) for a cheap price sounds unnatural to native speakers; use yasui instead. For a person’s height, always pair hikui with se (背), as in se ga hikui (背が低い, short) — never mijikai (短い), which describes length or duration, not stature. Also note hikui koe (低い声) means a deep, low-pitched voice, not a quiet one (that would be chiisai koe, 小さい声). Keep the standard conjugations handy: hikukunai, hikukatta, hikukute.
Everyday use
彼は背が低いですが、バスケットボールが得意です。
Kare wa se ga hikui desu ga, basukettobooru ga tokui desu.
He is short, but he is good at basketball.
Casual / Social Media
今日は気温が低いから、上着を持って行った方がいいよ。
Kyou wa kion ga hikui kara, uwagi wo motte itta hou ga ii yo.
It’s cold today (the temperature is low), so you should bring a jacket.
Formal / Cultural context
この計画が成功する可能性は低いと専門家は指摘しています。
Kono keikaku ga seikou suru kanousei wa hikui to senmonka wa shiteki shiteimasu.
Experts point out that the probability of this plan succeeding is low.
Japanese pairs many adjectives as direct opposites, and 高い (takai) and 低い (hikui) form one of the most useful pairs for everyday description. What surprises many learners is that takai does double duty — it means both tall/high (背が高い, a tall building) and expensive (高い値段, a high price). Hikui, however, stayed narrowly focused on physical or measurable lowness and never absorbed the meaning of cheap, which is handled by a completely separate word, yasui (安い). This lopsided pairing is a small but real quirk of the language that trips up learners who assume opposites always mirror each other one-to-one.
In daily life, hikui shows up constantly in weather reports (気温が低い, low temperature), health checkups (血圧が低い, low blood pressure), and casual talk about furniture or buildings (低いテーブル, a low table). One distinction that consistently confuses beginners is height versus length: a person’s short stature is always se ga hikui (背が低い), because height is treated as a vertical measurement, while mijikai (短い) is reserved for physical length or duration, like short hair (短い髪) or a short movie (短い映画). Keeping this line clear is one of the most practical ways to sound natural when describing people versus objects.