がり

The suffix がり attaches to the stem of certain い-adjectives (and a few な-adjectives) to create a noun describing a person who tends to feel or act a certain way. It expresses a personality trait or habitual tendency.

Formation

Remove the final い from an い-adjective and add がり:

• さむい寒い → 寒 → 寒がり (person sensitive to cold)
• あつい暑い → 暑 → 暑がり (person sensitive to heat)
• こわい怖い → 怖 → 怖がり (scaredy-cat)
• はずかしい恥ずかしい → 恥ずかし → 恥ずかしがり (shy person)
• さびしい寂しい → 寂し → 寂しがり (person who gets lonely easily)

Usage

がり words function as nouns and can be used with だ / です, or as modifiers with の.

You can also use がりの before a noun to modify it:

Relationship to がる

がり is the noun form derived from the verb suffix ～がる (to show signs of feeling ~). While がる describes the action of showing a feeling, がり describes the person who habitually shows that tendency.

• 寒がる = to act cold / show signs of being cold
• 寒がり = a person who is always cold

Common がり words

The most common がり words describe sensitivity to physical sensations or emotions: さむがり寒がり (cold-sensitive), あつがり暑がり (heat-sensitive), こわがり怖がり (easily scared), はずかしがり恥ずかしがり (shy), さびしがり寂しがり (easily lonely), いたがり痛がり (sensitive to pain).

Not all adjectives can take がり – it is mainly used with adjectives describing subjective feelings or sensations.