Heiki in Japanese can be used to say “okay” or “no problem”, explained

What does “heiki” mean in Japanese?

Japanese people say “heiki” to mean ‘okay’ or ‘no problem’ especially in casual conversations. In this blog post, I will explain this word in detail based on its kanji expression. And also, I will explain how to use it through example sentences. Let’s get started!

Contents

• Definition and meanings of “heiki”
• “Heiki” in kanji
• Example #1: how to use “heiki”
• Example #2: another usage of “heiki”
• Repeating twice: heiki, heiki
• Summary

Definition and meanings of “heiki”

Let me start with the definition and meanings of “heiki”.

• heiki – 平気 (へいき) : a noun meaning ‘calmness’, ‘coolness’, or ‘unmoved mind’ in Japanese. But in reality Japanese people use it like an adjective or just an interjection to mean ‘okay’ or ‘no problem’.

In the Japanese language, the border between nouns and na-adjectives is very ambiguous. Basically, every na-adjective consists of one noun and one conjugative suffix. And Japanese native speakers often omit the suffix. From these reasons, Japanese nouns are often used as shortened forms of na-adjectives. “Heiki” is one of them. Grammatically, it is a noun, but can be used as the shortened version of the na-adjective, “heikina”, which means ‘calm’ or ‘unmoved’. These meanings are interpreted as just ‘okay’ or ‘no problem’ in many cases.

To understand this word more clearly, let me explain its kanji characters in detail, one by one.

“Heiki” in kanji

Below are the kanji characters used in “heiki”.

• 平 : a kanji character used to mean ‘plain’, ‘flat’, ‘calm’, or such in Japanese. This kanji character can also be found in other words like “heiwa“.
• 気 : a kanji character used to mean ‘mind’, ‘heart’, ‘spirit’, ‘will’, or ‘feeling’ in Japanese. This kanji character can also be found in other words like “honki“, “byouki“, “yaruki“, and “yūki“.

From these two kanji characters, we can understand that “heiki” literally means ‘calm mind’. This kanji concept is strongly related to its usages. When we face a problem, we cannot keep our minds calm. Conversely, having a calm mind would imply not facing any problem. Therefore, Japanese people use “heiki” to mean ‘okay’ or ‘no problem’ in Japanese.

When we meet new kanji expressions, we should check their kanji characters in detail to understand their meanings clearly and deeply. In many cases, kanji characters tell us a lot about meanings of words they form. Actually, here, we could get the better understanding of “heiki” through the detailed kanji check above.

Then, let me explain how to use “heiki” through the example sentences below.

Example #1: how to use “heiki”

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
• wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In the example, it is used after “watashi” to make the subject word in the sentence.
• desu – です : an auxiliary verb put after a noun or adjective to make it polite. Probably it is well known as a part of Japanese desu form. In the example, it is put after “heiki” to make it sound polite.

This is a typical usage of “heiki”. When we want to say “okay” in Japanese, it would be a good option.

Depending on the situation, even just saying “heiki” is acceptable and understandable. This is why Japanese learners quite often hear this word in real Japanese conversations.

Example #2: another usage of “heiki”

Below are the new words used in the example sentence.

• kare – 彼 (かれ) : a pronoun meaning ‘he’ in Japanese.
• ka – か : a sentence-ending particle used to make a question in Japanese. As its definition suggests, it is put at the end of the example sentence to make the question.

This is another typical usage of “heiki”. In this example, it is used as a part of the interrogative sentence. When who is referred to is clear from the context and situation, we can omit the subject. So, we can say “heiki desu ka” to mean ‘is [someone] okay?’ In more casual situations, only “heiki” can be interpreted as ‘okay?’ In this case, the pitch needs to be raised, though.

Repeating twice: heiki, heiki

Sometimes Japanese people repeat a word twice to emphasize its meaning. For this reason, they use “heiki” twice in a row especially in casual conversions as follows.

This expression is often used in Japanese movies and anime, I think. It’s the emphasized expression of “heikI” and means ‘okay. okay’ or ‘no problem. no problem’ in Japanese. It sounds a bit casual, so we need to be careful with its use. Yet, it is a widely-used expression, so worth knowing.

Summary

In this blog post, I’ve explained the word, “heki”, in detail based on its kanji expression. And also, I’ve explained its usages through the examples. Let me summarize them as follows.

• heiki – 平気 (へいき) : a noun meaning ‘calmness’, ‘coolness’, or ‘unmoved mind’ in Japanese. But in reality Japanese people use it like an adjective or just an interjection to mean ‘okay’ or ‘no problem’. These two kanji literally mean ‘calm mind’. This is the basic concept lying under the meanings.
• heiki desu – 平気です (へいきです) : a Japanese expression for ‘[someone] is okay’. In casual situations, “desu” can be omitted.
• heki desu ka – 平気ですか (へいきですか) : a Japanese expression for ‘is [someone] okay?’ In casual situations, “desu ka” can be omitted. In this case, the pitch of “heiki” needs to be raised.
• heki heki – 平気平気 (へいきへいき) : the emphasized expression of “heki”, meaning ‘okay. okay’ or ‘no problem. no problem’ in Japanese.

Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.