What omoshiroi, kawaii, ichiban and daisuki literally mean

Omoshiroi (interesting, funny), kawaii (cute), ichiban (number one) and daisuki (I love it) are four of the first words people pick up from anime and J-pop. Their kanji read “face + white”, “can + love”, “one + number” and “big + like”. Three of those spellings show where the word came from. Kawaii’s kanji were borrowed later, to fit a word that already existed.

Omoshiroi: a sight that lights you up

面白い (omoshiroi) is 面 (omo), face, and 白い (shiroi), white. 白 can also mean bright, and the Daijisen dictionary says the word first described the feeling of everything brightening in front of your eyes: a sight so delightful it lights you up. From “delightful” it moved to “interesting” and “funny”.

面 began as a drawing of a face with one eye made big. It means face, mask or surface: 仮面 (kamen) is a mask and 画面 (gamen) a screen. 白 means white, and also bright, clear and plain.

Kawaii: borrowed kanji

可愛い (kawaii) reads like “can love”. 可 (ka) means can, may or acceptable, as in 可能 (kanou), possible, and 愛 (ai) means love, with 心, the heart, in its middle. Chinese has a word 可愛 meaning “lovable”, so the spelling looks perfect.

But the word is older than its kanji. Kawaii comes from かわゆい (kawayui), and dictionaries trace that to an older word, かわはゆし (kawahayushi), written 顔映ゆし, “face aglow”: blushing, too embarrassed to look. In its oldest recorded uses it meant awkward or shameful. From “I can’t bear to look” it shifted to “pitiful, poor little thing”, and from there to “dear” and “cute”. As the meaning shifted, writers began spelling it with the Chinese 可愛. So 可愛い is ateji (当て字), like 頑張る, and most people simply write かわいい.

Ichiban: number one

一番 (ichiban) is 一 (ichi), one, and 番 (ban), a number in a series, or someone’s turn. Number one: first place, or “the most”. Put it in front of an adjective and you get a superlative: 一番好き (ichiban suki) is “my favourite”.

番 shows up wherever there’s an order: 順番 (junban) is the order of turns, and 番号 (bangou) a number. It can also mean keeping watch, as in 留守番 (rusuban), minding the house while everyone is out. Its lower half looks like 田, a rice field, but scholars don’t think it was one, and nobody is sure what the character first pictured.

Daisuki: big like

大好き (daisuki) is 大 (dai), big, and 好き (suki), liked. 好き on its own already means “I like it”; 大 turns it up to “I really like it”, “I love it”. 好 puts 女, a woman, next to 子, a child. The usual explanation is that a mother with her child was the picture of something good, so 好 means good, or to like.

Japanese uses 大好き freely, for food, places, hobbies and people. Said to a friend or a parent, it’s affection, not romance. Said to someone you have a crush on, a plain 好きです (suki desu) is the classic confession.

How to use them

• この本、すごく面白いよ。

  Kono hon, sugoku omoshiroi yo.

  This book is really good.

• この猫、かわいい！

  Kono neko, kawaii!

  This cat is so cute!

• どの季節が一番好き？

  Dono kisetsu ga ichiban suki?

  Which season do you like best?

• 一番近い駅はどこですか。

  Ichiban chikai eki wa doko desu ka.

  Where's the nearest station?

• ラーメンが大好きです。

  Raamen ga daisuki desu.

  I love ramen.

• 面白い is “interesting” as often as “funny”. A 面白い book is a good read; a 面白い person is fun to be around.
• かわいい covers a lot of ground: babies and cats, but also clothes, food, handwriting and stationery. Anything small, sweet or charming.
• 一番 before an adjective means “the most”: 一番高い (ichiban takai), the most expensive.
• The thing you like takes が: ラーメンが好き (raamen ga suki), I like ramen.

Words with the same kanji

Remember it

Picture your favourite thing in the world. Your face lights up (面白い), you blush (かわいい), it’s first in line (一番), and you like it in a big way (大好き).

The kanji in this lesson

Tap Draw it to watch the stroke order. Numbers show where each stroke starts.

Draw it

Draw it

Draw it

Draw it

Draw it

Draw it

Sources

• Kotobank (Nihon Kokugo Daijiten, Daijisen): 可愛い
• Wiktionary via Kaikki: 可愛い
• Kotobank (Daijisen): 面白い

Written by the Sumi team with the help of AI, then checked against JMdict and KANJIDIC2. How we write lessons. Spotted a mistake? Email brightsmilesolutionssupport@gmail.com.