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Kanji Detail for 愛 - "love, affection, to cherish"

愛

  • Meaning

    愛 means "love, affection, to cherish."

    1. Love - Deep affection; caring.

    2. Affection - Fondness; tenderness.

    3. Cherish - To hold dear; to treasure.

  • Words using 愛

    • 恋愛 れんあい Listen love; romance; tender passion
    • 愛情 あいじょう Listen love; affection
    • 愛国 あいこく Listen love of one's country; patriotism
    • 愛好 あいこう Listen love; adoration; being fond of
    • 愛称 あいしょう Listen pet name; nickname; affectionate name
    • 愛する あいする Listen to love
    • 友愛 ゆうあい Listen fraternity; friendship
    • 愛人 あいじん Listen lover; mistress

  • Four-character idioms with 愛

    • 博愛主義 はくあいしゅぎ Listen philanthropism
    • 和顔愛語 わがんあいご Listen with a gentle face and a nice word
    • 寵愛一身 ちょうあいいっしん Listen standing highest in one's master's favor; monopolizing the affection (favor) of the lord; being the lord's favorite lady
    • 忠君愛国 ちゅうくんあいこく Listen loyalty and patriotism
    • 愛別離苦 あいべつりく Listen the pain of separation from loved ones
    • 愛及屋烏 あいきゅうおくう Listen infatuation; doting

  • Origin of 愛

    The oldest form showed a person glancing back with a heart 心 drawn inside the chest; the later form added trailing feet 夊 — someone walking away while their heart turns back. Love, in this character, began as the feeling that will not let you leave.

    How to remember it: A heart 心 caught in the middle of someone walking away — love is what looks back.

    Sources: en.wiktionary.org · mojinavi.com

  • Tattoo check: 愛

    • Verified meaning: love, affection, to cherish
    • Official Jōyō kanji — a standard character every Japanese reader recognises
    • Used in real Japanese given names (read あーい, あい, あいか, あいじ)

    A single kanji rarely maps one-to-one onto an English word. Read the meanings and associations above as a set — a character that fits the dictionary definition can still carry a connotation you did not intend.

  • Name readings of 愛

    Given names 愛(あーい)Listen 愛(あい)Listen 愛(あいか)Listen 愛(あいす)Listen 愛(あおい)Listen 愛(あき)Listen 愛(あこ)Listen 愛(あづみ)Listen 愛(あみか)Listen 愛(あや)Listen 愛(あゆ)Listen

    Surnames 愛(あいじ)Listen

  • Compare with other kanji that mean the same thing:

  • Dictionary Citations

    The meaning above is based on the following sources:

    KANJIDIC2 A comprehensive Japanese-English kanji dictionary

    love; affection; favourite

    Unihan Unicode Han Database for CJK characters

    love, be fond of, like

    CC-CEDICT A Chinese-English dictionary

    to love; to be fond of; to like; affection; to be inclined (to do sth); to tend to (happen)

    Make Me a Hanzi Open-source Chinese character data

    to love, to like, to be fond of; love, affection

    XSZD Xuéshēng Zìdiǎn (學生字典) - Student's Dictionary

    To like. Like saying "delighting in." Such as 愛慕. Also, the meaning of treasuring. Such as 愛惜. Hence, self-respect is also 自愛. | Benevolence. Such as lingering affection being 遺愛. | Close and kind. (Mencius) "Those who love others are always loved by others." Those one is close to are also called 愛. Colloquially, calling someone's daughter 令愛. Also written as 嬡.

  • Onyomi

    tip

    ai(アイ) アイ

  • Kunyomi

    tip

    ito.shii(いと-しい) いと-しい

    kana.shii(かな-しい) かな-しい

    mana(まな) まな

    me.deru(め-でる) め-でる

    oshi.mu(お-しむ) お-しむ

  • Strokes

    tip

    13 strokes

  • Radical

    tip

    心 忄 (kokoro・shitagokoro・risshimben)

  • Related Keywords

    love affection to cherish fondness admiration adoration attachment care compassion dear devotion empathy infatuation intimacy kindness tenderness warmth romance

Sentences including 愛

  • The family love one another.

  • One should love his mother.

  • Both of my parents love each other.

  • She has a charming face.

  • He has a great attachment to this town.

  • She is loved by everybody.

  • She has a love of learning.

  • That he loved her was certain.

  • We should love our neighbors.

  • I love what you are.

Sentences from Japanese classical masterpieces

More kanji with the radical 心 忄 (kokoro・shitagokoro・risshimben)

See all kanji with this radical →

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