HSK 3 · Adjectives

可爱 kě'ài “cute” in Chinese

Traditional 可愛

What 可爱 means

  1. cute
  2. lovely
  3. adorable

How to say 可爱

  • Pitch chart of the third tone: dips low then rises, 2 to 1 to 4 on the five-level scale可kě3rd tone, dipping
  • Pitch chart of the fourth tone: falls from high to low, 5 to 1 on the five-level scale爱ài4th tone, falling

可爱 in a sentence

  1. 这些孩子多可爱呀！

    Zhèxiē háizi duō kě'ài ya!

    These children are so cute!

    Sentence #11837789 from Tatoeba

  2. 那几只小猫特别可爱。

    Nà jǐ zhī xiǎomāo tèbié kě'ài.

    Those kittens are so cute.

    Sentence #6956881 from Tatoeba

  3. 你的裙子很可爱。

    Nǐ de qúnzi hěn kě'ài.

    Your skirt is really cute.

    Sentence #8856199 from Tatoeba · translation adapted

How 可爱 is built

Each colour is one part of the character. Parts repeat across thousands of characters, so learning them makes new words easier. See all 214 in our radicals chart.

The character 可 (kě) with each of its parts in a different colour
可kěcan; may; able to; -able
  • 丁part of the characterMeaning part
  • 口mouth · kǒuSound part

Memory aidPicture a mouth 口 saying yes: can, may.

The character 爱 (ài) with each of its parts in a different colour
爱àito love; to be fond of; to like
  • 爫claw form of 爪 · zhǎo
  • 冖cover · mì
  • 友friend · yǒu

Memory aidA hand 爫 bringing a friend 友 under a cover 冖: love.

How to write 可爱

可 5 strokes · 爱 10 strokes

Watch the order, then press Try writing it and draw each stroke in the grid. Each stroke is checked as you go.

可爱 (kě'ài) stroke order chart: each stroke of the characters in the order you write them
Stroke order chart for 可爱 (kě'ài). Red marks the next stroke, so you can copy it onto paper one step at a time.

Words related to 可爱

Words with 可

可以kěyǐ · can可能kěnéng · maybe可kě · but可怜kělián · pitiful可惜kěxī · it is a pity可是kěshì · but可靠kěkào · reliable可怕kěpà · awful可见kějiàn · it can clearly be seen (that this is the case)宁可nìngkě · preferably

Words with 爱

爱ài · to love爱好àihào · hobby爱人àiren · husband or wife喜爱xǐ'ài · to like爱情àiqíng · romance恋爱liàn'ài · romantic love爱护àihù · to cherish爱惜àixī · to cherish亲爱qīn'ài · dear爱心àixīn · compassion

More words: Adjectives

坏huài · bad极jí · an extreme简单jiǎndān · simple旧jiù · old蓝lán · blue老lǎo · old绿lǜ · green满意mǎnyì · satisfied

FAQs

可爱 (kě’ài) means “cute” or “lovely”. It is an HSK 3 word.
Say it kě’ài: kě with a 3rd tone, then ài with a 4th tone. Press Listen at the top of this page to hear it, or Slowly to hear each tone clearly.
In Traditional characters, used in Taiwan and Hong Kong, 可爱 is written 可愛. The pronunciation is the same.
Add a Chinese (Simplified) pinyin keyboard to your phone or computer, type keai with no tone marks or spaces, then choose 可爱 from the suggestions. Typing keai into this dictionary’s search box finds it too.
可爱 is an HSK 3 word in the HSK 2.0 word lists.

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Sources: meaning and pinyin checked by a native Mandarin teacher against the official HSK lists. Extra meanings from CC-CEDICT (CC BY-SA 4.0). Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR). Character parts and stroke order from Make Me a Hanzi.