はかない
N1 hakanai
- fleeting
- transient
- short-lived
- momentary
- vain
- fickle
- miserable
- empty
- ephemeral
い-adjective
Also written 儚い
Chinese meanings
短暂;虚幻
Examples
- 人生は、はかない夢にすぎない。Life is but an empty dream.人生不过是一场短暂的梦。
- 人の人生は、はかないものだ。The life of a person is a transient thing.人的一生是短暂的。
Use this entry in code
import { getVocabById } from 'kotowa';
getVocabById('59c95b5d68'); // はかない
{
"id": "59c95b5d68",
"word": "はかない",
"reading": "はかない",
"romaji": "hakanai",
"meanings": [
"fleeting",
"transient",
"short-lived",
"momentary",
"vain",
"fickle",
"miserable",
"empty",
"ephemeral"
],
"level": "N1",
"pos": [
"adj-i"
],
"jmdict_id": 1600630,
"other_forms": [
"儚い"
],
"examples": [
{
"ja": "人生は、はかない夢にすぎない。",
"furigana": "{人生|じんせい}は、はかない{夢|ゆめ}にすぎない。",
"en": "Life is but an empty dream.",
"tatoeba_id": 144004
},
{
"ja": "人の人生は、はかないものだ。",
"furigana": "{人|ひと}の{人生|じんせい}は、はかないものだ。",
"en": "The life of a person is a transient thing.",
"tatoeba_id": 144588
}
],
"zh": {
"status": "reviewed",
"source_hash": "fe8c8f697c6389b8993d347d46b0c969362debb56dee2c3833a76bb49e9d17a3",
"meanings": [
"短暂",
"虚幻"
],
"examples": [
{
"ja": "人生は、はかない夢にすぎない。",
"zh": "人生不过是一场短暂的梦。"
},
{
"ja": "人の人生は、はかないものだ。",
"zh": "人的一生是短暂的。"
}
],
"references": [
"upstream vocab/n1/59c95b5d68",
"JMdict ent_seq 1600630; checked against downloaded JMdict_e.gz on 2026-10-28",
"Original Chinese authored and reviewed by Codex; no independent human review"
],
"reviewer": "Codex",
"review_method": "ai",
"reviewed_at": "2026-10-28",
"review_hash": "49318906539738deeaf7e89c3190bfd16ab9c52cb76beb73caf63935dee29b65"
}
}