狭量

1. Origins, structure, and basic meaning

• Structure: 狭量 combines 狭, “narrow,” with 量 in the sense of one's capacity of mind; it is read きょうりょう and behaves as a noun or na-adjective.
• Basic usage: It negatively evaluates an attitude or judgment that cannot tolerate different ideas or even small mistakes.
  • In 少しの失敗も許さない彼の態度は狭量だ。, it is predicative; in 異なる考えを受け入れない狭量な判断では、問題は解決しない。, the な form modifies 判断.

2. Common pitfalls and similar expressions

• Attributive and predicative forms
  • Use 狭量な判断 before a noun and 態度は狭量だ at the end of a clause.
• Not physical narrowness
  • 狭量 does not describe the width of a space. It judges someone's capacity to accept other views or mistakes as narrow.
• 狭量 and 慎重
  • 慎重(しんちょう) means making a careful judgment to avoid risk. 狭量 is a negative judgment of intolerance, so the two are not the same.