JLPT N5 · い-adjective

可愛い (kawaii)

可愛い (かわいい, kawaii) is a Japanese い-adjective meaning “cute; adorable”. It is usually written in kana. It appears in JLPT N5 vocabulary lists and is marked as a common word in JMdict.

Reading: かわいい
Romaji: kawaii
Word class: い-adjective
Level: JLPT N5 (unofficial)

Meaning

cute; adorable; charming; lovely; pretty · い-adjective · usually written in kana
dear; precious; darling; pet · い-adjective · usually written in kana
innocent; childlike; childish; lovable · い-adjective · usually written in kana
dainty; little; tiny · い-adjective · usually written in kana
precious to oneself; dear (to one) · い-adjective · usually written in kana, idiom · usu. as 自分の首が～, etc.

Example sentences

この世にかわいい子はただ一人、母親にとってはそれはわが子。

There's only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.

Tatoeba #220945

私にとって子供たちは目の中に入れてもいたくないほどかわいいのです。

My children are very precious to me.

Tatoeba #164768

Sentences from the Tatoeba project, linked to this word in JMdict.

Conjugation of 可愛い

い-adjective. Plain and polite forms below; try any other word in the Japanese verb conjugator.

Form	Japanese	Reading
Present	可愛い	かわいい kawaii
Negative	可愛くない	かわいくない kawaikunai
Past	可愛かった	かわいかった kawaikatta
Negative past	可愛くなかった	かわいくなかった kawaikunakatta
Te-form	可愛くて	かわいくて kawaikute
Adverb (~ku)	可愛く	かわいく kawaiku
Conditional (~ba)	可愛ければ	かわいければ kawaikereba

Kanji in 可愛い

可

can, passable, approvalカ・コク・-べ.き・-べ.し · 5 strokes

愛

love, affection, favouriteアイ・いと.しい・かな.しい · 13 strokes

Related words

Other vocabulary sharing a kanji with 可愛い.

可かacceptable可能かのうpossible許可きょかpermission不可ふかwrong可愛そうかわいそうpoor可愛らしいかわいらしいlovely可決かけつapproval可愛がるかわいがるto be affectionate to不可欠ふかけつindispensable愛あいlove愛情あいじょうlove愛想あいそうamiability恋愛れんあいlove

Source: JMdict entry 1577200 (EDRDG, CC BY-SA 4.0). Level: unofficial JLPT list – how levels are assigned.