Usage patterns 鋭えい 利り な 刃は 物もの a sharp-edged blade or cutting tool
The perpetrator is believed to have used a sharp blade.
鋭えい 利り な 切き り 口くち a clean, sharp-cut edge
The wound showed a clean, sharp-cut edge.
鋭えい 利り な 頭ず 脳のう a sharp, incisive mind
With her sharp mind, she solved one difficult problem after another.
鋭えい 利り な 観かん 察さつ 力りょく keen, incisive powers of observation
This reporter depicts the hidden side of society with keen observational insight.
Kanji 鋭 pointed, sharpness, edge 利 profit, advantage, benefit Related words 鋭い is the common, everyday word for sharp or perceptive, while 鋭利 is a more formal, written term often used for cutting edges or incisive intellect.
鋭敏 emphasizes keenness of the senses or intuition (e.g. a sharp sense of smell), while 鋭利 focuses more on cutting sharpness or incisive reasoning.
尖鋭 describes something sharply pointed or, figuratively, radical/extreme in stance, whereas 鋭利 stresses cutting keenness or mental incisiveness without the radical nuance.
切れ味 describes how well a blade actually cuts, while 鋭利 describes general sharpness or keenness, whether of an edge or a mind.
Don't confuse with 鋭意 shares the kanji 鋭 with 鋭利 but means 'earnestly, diligently' (as in 鋭意努力する ), not sharpness at all.
鋭利 describes physical sharpness of a blade or edge, while 鋭敏 describes sharpness of senses or intellect, not physical cutting ability.
Written forms 鋭えい 利り Usage 93%
Standard kanji spelling; mainly used in somewhat formal descriptions of sharp blades, tools, points, or keen perception.
エイリ Usage 7%
Etymology A Sino-Japanese compound written with 鋭 , associated with sharpness or keenness, and 利 , associated here with sharpness or effectiveness. This is a component-based explanation of the written form, not a claim about the full historical derivation.
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