少なくない【すくなくない】

すくなくない (すくなくない少なくない) is the negative form of the い-adjective すくない少ない (few, little). It literally means "not few" or "not a little," and is used to express that something exists in a considerable amount – equivalent to "quite a few," "quite a lot," or "not insignificant" in English.

This is a form of litotes – expressing something positive through double negation. Rather than directly saying おおい多い (many), using すくなくない少なくない sounds more measured and objective, which makes it common in written language, news, essays, and formal speech.

Nuance compared to 多い

While おおい多い is a direct statement that something is "many," すくなくない少なくない carries the nuance of "more than you might expect" or "a significant number." It often implies that something is noteworthy or should not be overlooked.

Common patterns

すくなくない少なくない frequently appears with particles like **も** for emphasis, or after noun phrases describing people, cases, or amounts.

It can also be conjugated into the past tense (すくなくなかった少なくなかった) or the polite form (すくなくないです少なくないです / すくなく少なくありません).