Skip to content
道Nihongo Path

懲りる

こりる

to learn one's lesson (from a bad experience); to have had enough of

By Nihongo PathUpdated

Examples

  1. これで彼女も懲りるだろう。

    これでかのじょもこりるだろう。

    This will teach her a lesson.

  2. 一度失敗したくらいでは懲りない人だ。

    いちどしっぱいしたくらいではこりないひとだ。

    He's not the sort to be put off by one failure.

  3. 去年の大雪に懲りて、今年は早めにタイヤを替えた。

    きょねんのおおゆきにこりて、ことしははやめにたいやをかえた。

    Having learned my lesson from last year's heavy snow, I changed the tyres early this year.

Common patterns

〜に懲りる
to learn one's lesson from ...
懲りずに
undeterred; without learning
懲り懲りだ
I've had more than enough of it

Memory tip

懲りる is intransitive and the bad experience takes に: 失敗に懲りる. The transitive partner 懲らしめる means to punish someone so they learn — same kanji as 懲罰.

Kanji in this word

Quick check

1 / 2Multiple choiceDifficulty 4 of 5

What does 懲りる mean?