Did the Japanese word originate in Chinese, or was it the other way around? Or are the two words related at all?
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I noticed the both Japan and Korea maintained some expressions the same as in Chinese (the meanings and pronunciations). But I don't know if this is one of the cases.– r13Aug 11, 2021 at 22:31
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According to Japanese Wiktionary, they seem to be unrelated.– Alan ZzzAug 11, 2021 at 22:50
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1Related: Which of 可爱/可愛い was exported to the other between Chinese and Japanese?– MichaelyusAug 15, 2021 at 11:26
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2 Answers
No, Japanese kawaii is not etymologically related to Chinese 「可愛」.
As a very simplified explanation, Japanese kawaii is a native Japanese word, originally coming from a contraction of kao (face, forming the kaw part of the word) and hayushi (flushed, forming the aii part of the word). The semantic extension is as follows:
flushed face > embarrassed > pitiable > lovable
The modern Japanese spelling 「可愛い」 is completely jukujikun (熟字訓); that is, none of the Chinese characters used here reflect any kind of etymology (Japanese or otherwise).
To reiterate, none of the morphemes which kawaii is composed of are Chinese in origin at all, but for the benefit of anyone who's studying Japanese and are aware of [the idea of kun'yomi], [Japanese spelling habits], and how it's a complete red herring to relate [kun'yomi words represented by Chinese characters] to [Chinese morphemes], the modern spelling of those Japanese words are:
- kawaii - 「可愛い」
- kao - 「顔」
- hayushi - 「映し」
References:
They are unrelated.
汉字表记可愛い为借字 (当て字)和熟字訓，且使用了愛的不规则读法。与汉语可爱(官话kě'ài，闽南语khó-ài)发音相近实属巧合。
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Do you know why the Japanese retained some of the Chinese characters but not their meanings and pronunciations?– r13Aug 12, 2021 at 13:07
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