可愛い

Etymology 1
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Shift in pronunciation from kawayui below.

The kanji spelling 可愛い is an example of, and uses an irregular reading of 愛. The phonological resemblance to is coincidental. Note that the medial -w- here is not an excrescence added between ka and ai, since the word is not formed from these morphemes.

Already realized phonetically as by the early 1600s, and possibly found alongside older form kawayui, as seen in the 1603 edition of the .

Adjective

 * 1) lovable, beloved
 * 2) cute, adorable
 * 1) cute, adorable

Usage notes

 * Often spelled in hiragana.

Derived terms

 * ,, : pitiful, pitiable, poor, sad
 * : to think that someone or something is cute, to be sweet on someone or something
 * : cuteness, lovableness
 * : cute-like, cute-looking

Etymology 2
From classical Japanese →.

A contraction of classical. The meaning evolved from to, to , and then to. The kanji spelling appears to be, from the above reading. Compare Korean 예쁘다 (yeppeu-da), which originally meant poor (as in "poor, poor kid") but now means pretty.

Adjective

 * 1) embarrassed, having a guilty conscience: see.
 * 2)  pitiable, pitiful
 * 3) * 1632, Diego Collado, Dictionarium sive thesauri linguae Iaponicae compendium
 * "ja"

- Miſerabilis, e: coſa que cauſa laſtima, cavaij. (Latin:) Wretched; (Spanish:) thing that causes pity, kawaii.


 * 1) lovable, adorable, cute