Japanese

Pronunciation

• (Irregular reading)
• (Tokyo) かわい​い [kàwáíꜜì] (Nakadaka - [3])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [ka̠ɰᵝa̠iː]

Usage notes

Often spelled in hiragana.

Adjective

可愛い ‎(-i inflection, hiragana かわいい, romaji kawaii, historical hiragana かはいい)

1. lovable, adorable, cute

Inflection

Derived terms

Etymology 2

A contraction of classical 顔映し /kahahayushi/ → /kahayushi/.^[1] Medial /ha/ becomes [wa] via synchronic phonological processes. It is unclear if the word before contraction was initially realized as *[kahahayushi] or as *[kawawayushi].

Pronunciation

• (Irregular reading)
• (Tokyo) かわゆ​い [kàwáyúꜜì] (Nakadaka - [3])^[2]
• IPA^(key): [ka̠ɰᵝa̠jɯᵝi]

Adjective

可愛い ‎(-i inflection, hiragana かわゆい, romaji kawayui, historical hiragana かはゆい)

1. embarrassed, having a guilty conscience: see 顔映し ‎(kawahayushi).
2. (obsolete) pitiable, pitiful
   • 1632, Diego Collado, Dictionarium sive thesauri linguae Iaponicae compendium

     Miſerabilis, e: coſa que cauſa laſtima, cavaij.

     (Latin:) Wretched; (Spanish:) thing that causes pity, kawaii.

3. lovable, adorable, cute

Inflection

References

1. 1 2 1988, 国語大辞典（新装版） (Kokugo Dai Jiten, Revised Edition) (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Shogakukan
2. 1 2 2006, 大辞林 (Daijirin), Third Edition (in Japanese), Tōkyō: Sanseidō, ISBN 4-385-13905-9