The surface-coated member 1 is constituted by coating the surface of the base body 2, made of such a material as cemented carbide or cermet, with the hard coating layer 3 that comprises at least one TiCN layer 4 and the Al.sub.2O.sub.3 layer 6 formed on the surface of the TiCN layer 4, wherein the TiCN layer 4 is constituted from stringer-like TiCN crystal grown in a direction perpendicular to the base body 2 and mean crystal width w.sub.1 of the TiCN layer 4 on the Al.sub.2O.sub.3 layer 6 side is made larger than mean crystal width w.sub.2 on the base body 2 side. This surface-coated member, as a cutting tool, shows excellent breakage resistance and high wear resistance with a long service life, where strong adhesion force of the hard coating layer can be maintained without experiencing peel-off between the TiCN layer and the Al.sub.2O.sub.3 layer even in cutting operations under harsh cutting conditions, such as intermittent cutting operation where the cutting edge is subject to strong impact.