CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

If "genki" means someone is "energetic and full of life", then what is the antonym of genki? That is, what if someone "lacks energy and feels lifeless"? Genki ja nai is cheat, I want one single word to describe this state... mostly because I think it would be great to describe my depressed days (that is to say that I plan on making use of it, but either need to make it up or find out someone who knows what word I'm looking for). So what is the antonym of genki?

Well there's yuuutsu (As in Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu) meaning melancholy. I think it works grammatically the same way genki does, but I'm not sure. And yes that's three 'u's. It makes more sense in Japanese. Perhaps it should be spelled yuu-utsu.

Myself I have always translated 'genki' as health rather than vigour. byooki (病気) would in that sense be closest to its antonym, implying a disease state or illness. I am not a native speaker, however (I'll ask my native speaker friend when I see her next week).

Typically, around here, people say, "Tsukaretta," which means, "I'm tired." Usually genki implies energetic as well as healthy. They aren't separated concepts. Byouki usually has connotations of a serious illness. If you catch a cold, for example, you would say, "Kaze wo hikimashita," not "Byouki ni natta."

If you want to say you're sad, "Kanashii desu." works fine.

There's always maamaa

I don't know if people say this colloquially, because I have little experience with conversational Japanese, but there's also "ki ga omoi", which is to be depressed or heavy-hearted, but...that's three words, so moot point, I guess.

Midori (post: 1432870) wrote:Well there's yuuutsu (As in Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu) meaning melancholy. I think it works grammatically the same way genki does, but I'm not sure. And yes that's three 'u's. It makes more sense in Japanese. Perhaps it should be spelled yuu-utsu.

I was aware that it contained only 2 u's. ANN says: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yū]http://www.christiananime.net/showthread.php?t=56866[/url]). Perhaps it would've been better for you to make a post in there instead of making a separate topic - just a suggestion.

The long U can be spelled either ū or uu. But it is twice as long as a regular U and not any louder. The Kana for this is ゆううつ, which transliterates directly as yu-u-u-tsu. Mind you, using ū is a lot less stupid-looking in English, if a little harder to type.

[quote="Midori (post: 1433021)"]The long U can be spelled either ū]

Of course, people don't blink at "wuss" which technically is a double-u followed by another U. XD

Great Scott! You're right!

shooraijin (post: 1432871) wrote:Myself I have always translated 'genki' as health rather than vigour. byooki (病]

Yuki-Anne (post: 1432875) wrote:Typically, around here, people say, "Tsukaretta," which means, "I'm tired." Usually genki implies energetic as well as healthy. They aren't separated concepts. Byouki usually has connotations of a serious illness. If you catch a cold, for example, you would say, "Kaze wo hikimashita," not "Byouki ni natta."

If you want to say you're sad, "Kanashii desu." works fine.

My Japanese sensei, who is an immigrant from Yamanashi, taught us these two. "Byouki" is for sick, any sick. Case in point, I was laying down on my desk the other day, and she asked me, "[Airi]-san, byouki desu ka?" "Tsukaretta" is more like "I'm pooped." "Kaze wo hikimashita" means 'i have a cold.'

I stand corrected.

I have decided to resolve this question under catagory of "things I will force Japan to add to their language when I take over the world." It's a new category in fact.

That stated, I have had significantly less opportunities to make use of an antonym of the word genki lately because... well. Because I've been feeling more genki. In fact, now that I have recovered a bit, I think the answer to this is obvious and actually stated on here, even though the translation is incorrect according to my Japanese-English Dictionary.

The opposite of genki is yuu'utsu. Or from my Japanese-English dictionary, Depression.

This is a rather late response, but actually, there is a word for that feeling of despondency and depression, which would make it an antonym for genki--if you really do want to say that you are feeling down, not ill or tired.

落ち込んでいる　(ochikondeiru)

But

元気出した良かったな。 (Genki dashita yokatta na.)