もったいない (mottainai)

too good,more than one deserves,wasteful,sacrilegious,unworthy of

  • JLPT N2
  • adjective
  • Pitch 5
  • #4819 most frequent
Flashcards

Meaning

もったいない (mottainai) is a JLPT N2 adjective meaning “too good,more than one deserves,wasteful,sacrilegious,unworthy of”.

Example sentences 4

もののこしてはもったいないわよ。

It's wasteful to leave food.

その言葉は私には勿体無いくらいです。

I'm not worthy of those words.

戦前に、鏡開きのときにできる餅屑を勿体無いと考えた茶商が、これを炒って茶葉に混ぜたのが始まりとされている。

In prewar times, a chasho (tea dealer), who found the scraps of mochi left after the kagamibiraki (the custom of cutting and eating a large, round rice cake, which has been offered to the gods at New Year, on January 11) wasteful, roasted and mixed them with tea leaves, and this was said to be the beginning of genmaicha.

勿体無いと思う to regard something as too good for oneselfあなたはそれを勿体無いとは思いませんか?

Don't you think that it is a waste?