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   マリオ (Mario Menti) (mario@neko.cat)'s status on Sunday, 22-Oct-2023 03:45:38 JST マリオ (Mario Menti)

   A Japanese word that almost everyone knows without speaking any Japanese is かわいい (kawaii, cute).
   Today, for the first time, I've come across it written in kanji, as 可愛い (not sure how common it is to write it in kanji).

   But it's fun because of the meaning of the kanji: 可 means "possible" and 愛 is "love", so something cute or kawaii 可愛い is a possible love 😁

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     マリオ (Mario Menti) (mario@neko.cat)'s status on Sunday, 22-Oct-2023 06:39:48 JST マリオ (Mario Menti)

     in reply to

     • Paul

     @threedaymonk yeah, I suspected they're ateji, but it seemed quite a nice opportunity 😅

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     Paul (threedaymonk@sonomu.club)'s status on Sunday, 22-Oct-2023 06:39:49 JST Paul

     in reply to

     @mario It's not uncommon to write it in kanji, but they're just ateji chosen to match the meaning. The etymology is quite interesting, from kawahayushi ("shameful") shifting in meaning to "pitiable" to "deserving compassion" to "loveable".

     https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/%E5%8F%AF%E6%84%9B%E3%81%84