微妙 (bimyō)

What it means

1. 1.

   Meh; not great; iffy. The polite way to say something is bad without saying it is bad, and understood as such by everyone.

2. 2.

   Also genuinely 'borderline' — of a result, a schedule or a chance that could go either way.

Literally: Subtle; delicate; difficult to define.

Examples with translations

• —映画どうだった？—うーん、微妙。

  'How was the film?' 'Mmm… not great.'

  Note: As an answer to 'how was it', this is a negative verdict, softened only in form.

• 間に合うかは微妙だね。

  Whether we'll make it in time is anyone's guess.

Where it comes from

The literary sense is complimentary — 微妙な味わい is a subtle flavour. The slang sense keeps the word's refusal to commit and drops the admiration, which is exactly why it works as a face-saving criticism.

Other forms

Romanised as:

bimyō