可憐
Meanings
delicately lovely; sweet; cute
Used for a gentle, delicate kind of loveliness, especially of young women, girls, flowers, or small graceful things; more refined and literary-sounding than everyday かわいい.
Delicately lovely flowers are blooming in the garden.
She is a sweet, delicate-looking person who looks good in a white dress.
A rarer sense meaning deserving of pity or compassion. In modern Japanese, 可憐 is usually understood as 'delicately lovely' unless the context clearly points to misfortune or pathos.
Hearing the orphan's pitiable circumstances made my heart ache.
Usage patterns
- 可憐な〈人〉a delicately lovely person (esp. a young woman or girl)
She stood on stage as a delicately lovely young girl.
- 可憐な運命a pitiable fate
I was moved to tears by her pitiable fate.
- 可憐な〈物〉a delicately lovely thing (often a flower)
Delicately lovely flowers were blooming in the garden.
- 可憐に〈動詞〉to do something in a delicately lovely way
The girl smiled in a delicately lovely way.