情無い

なさけない · nasakenai · JLPT N1 · i-adj

shameful

情無い = 情 (feeling, compassion) + 無い (none): having no feeling left, so pitiable and shameful

情け means compassion or mercy, and 無い means lacking. Something nasakenai has no mercy or sympathy in it, so it is pitiable or shameful.

情 — heart radical 忄 + 青 (qīng)
A semantic-phonetic compound. The heart radical 忄 signals that the meaning involves feelings or inner states, while 青 supplies the sound 'qing'. Originally referring to genuine feelings or emotion arising from the heart, 情 expanded to cover sentiment, affection, and circumstances or situations more broadly.

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