空気読めない (kūki yomenai)
KOO-kee yo-meh-naiphrase, adjectiveColloquial
A Japanese slang term. Browse all Japanese slang.
What it means
Unable to sense the mood of a room — the person who keeps arguing after everyone has moved on, or raises a question at the exact wrong moment.
Abbreviated KY, from the Latin initials of kūki yomenai. The abbreviation was a 2007 craze and now sounds slightly dated, while the full phrase does not.
Being told 空気読め ('read the room') is a sharp rebuke, and in a workplace a serious one.
Literally: Cannot read the air.
Examples with translations
あの発言はちょっと空気読めてないよね。
That remark really didn't read the room.
空気読んで黙っといた。
I read the mood and kept my mouth shut.
Other forms
- Romanised as:
- kūki yomenai
- Spellings and variants:
- KY, 空気読め