かわいそう

Japanese

Alternative spellings
可哀想 (poetic)
可哀相 (poetic)

Etymology

かわいい ((obsolete) pitiable) +‎ そう (appears to be; looks like)

The kanji spellings are ateji (当て字) and typically used in poetry.

Pronunciation

  • (Tokyo) わいそ [kàwáísóꜜò] (Nakadaka – [4])[1]
  • IPA(key): [ka̠β̞a̠iso̞ː]

Adjective

かわいそう • (kawaisōかはいさう (kafaisau)?-na (adnominal かわいそう (kawaisō na), adverbial かわいそう (kawaisō ni))

  1. pitiable; pitiful; poor; pathetic
    Synonyms: 気の毒, 可憐

Inflection

References

  1. ^ Matsumura, Akira, editor (2006), 大辞林 [Daijirin] (in Japanese), Third edition, Tokyo: Sanseidō, →ISBN