The Best Advice The Way To Use こっそり, こそこそ and ひっそり
It seems some people are confused about the way to use こっそり, こそこそ and ひっそり. However, natives quite often use these words, so let’s master the way to use こっそり, こそこそ and ひっそり today and use them together!
こっそり (kossori)
Secretly / In private / Without letting one’s know
こっそり can be used as the meaning of “positive and negative”, unlike こそこそ. So that’s why you can use こっそり as a positive meaning for a surprise or for doing something In private. When using こっそり for a negative meaning, it would be pretty close to こそこそ, however, こそこそ is the much worse meaning than こっそり.

Beginner
Intermediate
Advanced


こそこそ (kosokoso)
Hide / Behind one’s back
When using こそこそ, that meaning is only negative. Someone wants to hide from someone because what he/she is doing is something bad or might be a crime. こそこそ can often be used with 隠れる, such as こそこそ隠れる, こそこそ隠れて___をする and so on.



ひっそり (hissori)
Quietly
こっそり and ひっそり sound similar to each other, so that’s why ひっそり might be a confusing word. However, ひっそり doesn’t have both a positive and negative meaning. It means just “quietly”. And ひっそり can be often used with 暮らす and 住む. Such as ひっそり暮らす and ひっそり住む.



![]() |
![]() |