So I’ve noticed that when the word かわいい is translated, it means “cute,” but when 可愛い is translated it often means “pretty.” These both seem to be the same word “kawaii,” so is this similar to English’s different levels of cuteness? What I mean by this is, when I type the word かわいい is it like the “cute” you’d use on a puppy, kitten, kid, etc.; but when you type 可愛い it’s the “cute” you’d hear a high school girl call some guy named Derek on a crappy teen drama?
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>but when you type 可愛い it’s the “cute” you’d hear a high school girl call some guy named Derek on a crappy teen drama?
It would be odd to call a male over 12 yo kawaii unless you are emphasizing something child-like about them.
Denotation versus connotation point here but there is an element of infantilizing with kawaii. There are words reserved for women seeking to be called kawaii, and the kind of men that like them.
At least according to jisho, they are not different words. The Kanji just aren’t usually used to write it, so it’s probably just confusing whatever translator you’re using.
There could be nuance implied when going out of your way to use uncommon Kanji, but that’s probably some pretty advanced concepts.
They’re the same no matter if you write it in kana or kanji the meaning never change.
However the interpretation can change depending on the context. Cute and pretty are synonyms so 可愛い is both words depending on how you want to translate it into english.
Guys are usually not called cute in that way in japanese unless they’re childish. Among women it’s pretty much interchangeable and whether it’s kana or kanji has no bearing on the meaning
Stereotypically hiragana is the writing system for children, and kanji is the writing system for grown-ups.
It can affect the perception of the word. Writing it with hiragana can imply saying it with cutesy tone or something like that.
They mean the same thing, it’s just usually a stylistic preference of which to use. Incidentally, “cute” is a somewhat reductive translation to begin with. Think of things and people described as かわいい/可愛い as “adorable in such a way as to inspire in one the desire to cherish, care for, or protect,” and it’ll be easier to determine what/who you should use it for.