～気味 — A Touch Of, -ish
Attached to a noun or verb stem to mean 'showing a slight tendency toward / a touch of X.' It expresses that someone or something has a faint sign or inclination of a condition, usually mild and often slightly negative (a bit tired, slightly feverish, running a little late). Read as ぎみ when suffixed.
Structure
[Noun / Verb ます-stem] + 気味(ぎみ)
Examples
最近、少し疲れ気味です。
Saikin, sukoshi tsukare-gimi desu.
Lately I've been feeling a bit worn out.
疲れ (stem of 疲れる) + 気味 = 'a touch of tiredness.'
風邪気味なので、今日は早く帰ります。
Kaze-gimi na node, kyō wa hayaku kaerimasu.
I feel like I'm coming down with a cold, so I'll go home early today.
風邪 (Noun) + 気味 = 'a slight cold'; treated like a な-adjective (風邪気味な).
最近、体重が増え気味で困っている。
Saikin, taijū ga fue-gimi de komatte iru.
Lately my weight has been tending to creep up, and it's troubling me.
増え (stem of 増える) + 気味 = 'a slight tendency to increase.'
• Behaves like a な-adjective/noun (風邪気味の人, 疲れ気味な様子). • Usually mild and slightly negative in nuance. • Common set phrases: 風邪気味, 疲れ気味, 遅れ気味, 太り気味, 緊張気味. • Register: neutral; very common in daily speech.
Commonly confused with
The JLPT rarely asks whether you recognise a pattern — it asks which of several similar patterns fits. These are the ones ～気味 is tested against.
vs っぽい
っぽい means 'has the quality of / -ish' broadly (子供っぽい 'childish'); 気味 specifically means a slight tendency toward a (often physical/temporary) condition.
vs がち
がち means something happens frequently or is a habitual tendency ('tends to, often'); 気味 describes a faint present sign or slight inclination, usually a mild degree.
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