Someone said that rather than きれい(pretty) I’m かわいい(cute) how should I take that? 🫤

14 comments

1. I’m not necessarily correct in my perception.
   Generally speaking, I think “kawaii” is more expressive of friendliness than “kirei”. So, “kawaii” may be a more promising word to be said by someone with a one-sided love.

2. Don’t worry that’s a compliment. I get that too and it means they appreciate you for more than your looks.

   To explain in more detail: If someone called you きれい it could allude to them being visually or sexually attracted to you outwardly. かわいい brings more scope for appreciation of your character/traits.

   A sunset is きれい

   A new dress that matched your vibe would be かわいい

3. I just can say that かわいい is much more a compliment in liking you as a person/ match/ crush than say きれい。
   Idk all men who said I am かわいい where attracted to me. No one of these said I am きれい。
   Take it as a compliment. :>

4. Are you a dude? Only guys I know get weird about the word cute. Cute is good. It can mean so many things, pretty included.

5. Depends, do you prefer people liking you for your looks or your intrinsic characteristics.

6. Way to overthink this one. The internet was a bad idea.

7. Hi, im Japanese. You should definitely take it as a compliment ! and if someone you have a crush on tells you you are かわいい, the man probably likes you considering that Japanese men don’t express what they think directly. It’s just my guess though!(i don’t want to hold responsibility)

8. Is this post for real? They’re both compliments so chill the heck out.

9. I have gotten the opposite, “Rather than かわいい, you’re きれい” from a guy who was gently trying to turn me down. He was saying like きれい was unapproachable to him or not his type or something.

   I’m married to a Japanese man now and I can’t think of a single time he has called me きれい but he often calls me かわいい

   So in my experience かわいい is a better compliment than きれい

10. It’s not the same as English and the nuance is completely different. Calling someone かわいい in Japanese means everything good.. cute, sexy, pretty, beautiful, etc. It doesn’t mean cute in the same way as in English. きれい isn’t as commonly used to describe people, it’s more for things like weather or saying something is clean. Your crush saying you’re かわいい means you’re in there. Be happy.

11. No it’s not the same.

    Kirei wouldn’t be used for people so much, it’s more “beautiful” like what you’d call a work of art.

    kawaii is probably hinting that they like you back

12. Japanese often call plain or unattractive gaijin women きれい or かわいい. I have never heard them call an unattractive woman 美女 or 美人.

13. Not necessary true but my two cents:

    きれい sounds more like pretty in a mature way and not necessary as a girl. If you search,

    >”きれいな人とは、清潔感のある外見・優しさと強さを兼ね備えた内面・上品な雰囲気を兼ね備えた人”

    かわいい is like cute, lovely, approachable or girlish.

    >「可愛い系女子」のイメージとしては、少し幼くあどけない印象がある、小柄で童顔、笑顔が絶えず親しみやすいなどがあげられています。

    Both as compliment but the kawaii side feels easier to get along.

14. After a decade of data in Japan: kawaii is not just the japanese way of giving a compliment to a woman (at leat up to 30yrs old, is totally normal), if a guy says it to a girl, it particularly means interest. (a neutral compliment would be to say 似合う the clothing suits you). Kawaii expresses personal perception and cute is a good thing in most people’s eyes. Similarly, your face is small would be a compliment that falls close to the cute compliment. Cute, being small, being fashionable (oshare), being overall awesome (suteki) are all compliments, that are used to pursue someone.

    if you want to say it back: for men, kawaii is not so great. suteki (most common, but also vague) or oshare (if he cares for fashion) or handsome (japanized pronunciation, worked great for me).

    I know it was a joke, but: Please dont kys, especially not over someone’s opinion about your looks or whether they like you or not. I am sure you are pretty and an interesting person!