"Kawaii" redirects here. For various uses of Kawai, see Kawai (disambiguation). For the Hawaiian island, see Kauai.
Since the 1970s, cuteness, in Japanese the noun kawaisa (可愛さ?) (literally, "lovability", "cuteness" or "adorableness"), has become a prominent aspect of Japanese popular culture, entertainment, clothing, food, toys, personal appearance, behavior, and mannerisms. The adjective is kawaii (可愛い?) (literally, "lovable", "cute", or "adorable"). The words "kawaisa" and "kawaii" have the root word "kawai" which is formed from the kanji "ka" (可), meaning "acceptable", and "ai" (愛), meaning "love". The term kawaii has taken on the secondary meanings of "cool," "groovy," "acceptable," "desirable,"[8] "charming" "non-threatening".
