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初々しい (ういういしい) Japanese meaning | Kotomora
Freq. Frequency Top 50,000 Conjugation Meanings 1
i-adjective
innocent ; naive ; fresh ; artless
Describes a young person's charming lack of worldly experience, often with a positive connotation of purity and freshness. Can also apply to behavior or appearance.
彼かの 女じょ の 初うい 々うい しい 態たい 度ど に 、 周まわ り の 人ひと も 和なご ん だ 。
Her artless manner put everyone around her at ease.
Written forms 初うい 々うい しい Usage 85%
Standard kanji spelling; the repetition mark 々 is used for the second 初.
ういういしい Usage 15%
初うい 初うい しい
Non-standard spelling without the repetition mark; rarely used.
Similar words 純じゅん 粋すい 純粋 means 'pure' in a broader sense, including moral purity or unadulterated substances, while 初々しい specifically refers to the innocent freshness of youth or inexperience.
うぶ うぶ also means 'innocent' or 'naive', but often carries a stronger nuance of sexual inexperience or extreme shyness, whereas 初々しい is more about a general charming freshness.
Etymology Derived from the reduplication of 初 (うい, 'first, initial') with the adjectival suffix しい, literally meaning 'seeming like the first time', hence 'fresh, innocent'.
