kawaii
Syllables: ka·waii/kəˈwaɪ.i/
kawaii adjective: cute, adorable.
Adjective
kawaii (comparative more kawaii, superlative most kawaii)
- Cute, adorable.
- She bought a kawaii keychain shaped like a kitten.
- However, Wong's connection to kawaii culture, which I have attempted to establish here, suggests a different reading of his films. As Larissa Hjorth has argued, “The kawaii is not about post-humanism but rather a clear demonstration of neo-humanist types” (144). In this sense, East Asian kawaii...2010, Susan Cahill, Emma Hegarty, Emilie Moran, Waste and Abundance: The Measure of Consumption: Special Issue of SubStance, Issue 116, 37:2 (2008), University of Wisconsin Press, →ISBN, page 106
Noun
kawaii (uncountable)
- The quality of being kawaii; cuteness.
- However, Wong's connection to kawaii culture, which I have attempted to establish here, suggests a different reading of his films. As Larissa Hjorth has argued, “The kawaii is not about post-humanism but rather a clear demonstration of neo-humanist types” (144). In this sense, East Asian kawaii...2010, Susan Cahill, Emma Hegarty, Emilie Moran, Waste and Abundance: The Measure of Consumption: Special Issue of SubStance, Issue 116, 37:2 (2008), University of Wisconsin Press, →ISBN, page 106
- Inmates had simply to surrender in fear of a future of simply waiting for death. However, it is not possible to achieve a full understanding of the significance of kawaii in modern society if we fixate only on the disquieting power hiding in the shadows of kawaii things.2014, Anthony Elliott, Masataka Katagiri, Atsushi Sawai, Routledge Companion to Contemporary Japanese Social Theory: From Individualization to Globalization in Japan Today, Routledge, →ISBN
- Synonyms:
- kawaiiness
- The style or culture of cuteness
- Her room is full of kawaii, with pastel plushies, anime posters, and cute stationery.
kawaii meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Assamese and Arabic
kawaii in Hindi
- cute, in the context of Japanese culture
- कावाई kāvāī
kawaii in Marathi
- cute, in the context of Japanese culture
- कावाई kāvāī
kawaii in Assamese
- cute, in the context of Japanese culture
- কাৱাইই kawaii
kawaii in Arabic
- cute, in the context of Japanese culture
- كَاوَايّ kāwāyy, كَاوَايِيّ kāwāyiyy
More languagesFewer languages
- kawaii in Thai
- คะวะอี ká-wá-ii
Examples of kawaii in a sentence
- However, Wong's connection to kawaii culture, which I have attempted to establish here, suggests a different reading of his films.2010, Susan Cahill, Emma Hegarty, Emilie Moran, Waste and Abundance: The Measure of Consumption: Special Issue of SubStance, Issue 116...
- As we've mentioned, the cyborgs are depicted with typically kawaii features, such as disproportionately large eyes and heads, and thin bodies.2010, Josef Steiff, Tristan D. Tamplin, Anime and Philosophy: Wide Eyed Wonder, Open Court, →ISBN:
- Among such content, various Japanese kawaii characters such as Hello Kitty and Pokemon have become […]2016, Gavriel Salvendy, Waldemar Karwowski, Advances in Cognitive Ergonomics, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 136:
- As Larissa Hjorth has argued, “The kawaii is not about post-humanism but rather a clear demonstration of neo-humanist types” (144).2010, Susan Cahill, Emma Hegarty, Emilie Moran, Waste and Abundance: The Measure of Consumption: Special Issue of SubStance, Issue 116...
Synonyms of kawaii
Forms of kawaii
| comparative | more kawaii |
|---|---|
| superlative | most kawaii |
Origin of kawaii
Borrowed from Japanese 可愛(かわい)い (kawaii, “lovable; adorable; cute”).
Words formed from kawaii
Phrases with kawaii
Words that rhyme with kawaii
Questions about kawaii
- What does kawaii mean?
- Kawaii means cute, adorable.
- What is kawaii in Hindi?
- Kawaii in Hindi is कावाई (kāvāī). See Kawaii meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use kawaii in a sentence?
- However, Wong's connection to kawaii culture, which I have attempted to establish here, suggests a different reading of his films.
- What part of speech is kawaii?
- Kawaii can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce kawaii?
- Kawaii is pronounced /kəˈwaɪ.i/.
Words near kawaii in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kawaii (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-kawaii.wav.
Cite this entry: “kawaii.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kawaii. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.