可愛い

かわいい

cute

Mnemonic

The puppy has one ear inside out and is giving you the full cow かわ eye いい, and it knows exactly what it is doing: かわいい.

Worth knowing

Written in kana as often as not. かわいそう looks related but means poor thing, not cute.

Built from

可

can, possible

A bent line over 口 a mouth. The thing you are allowed to say yes to.

愛

love

心 a heart bundled up in the middle with 夂 trailing feet under it. Carried about wherever you go.

Words sharing these kanji

可能 possible, potential 許可 permission, approval 不可能 impossible 愛する to love, to care for 愛 love

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Emaki is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Kaishi 1.5k or its authors. The word, reading and meaning come from the Kaishi 1.5k deck, used with their permission. The mnemonic, the note and the kanji breakdown are original work, published under CC BY-SA 4.0.