悲しい

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 友達が引っ越して悲しいです。▶ —
   I'm sad that my friend moved away.
2. 悲しい映画でした。▶ —
   It was a sad movie.

Collocations

Mnemonic

悲しい kanashii — an i-adjective; the kanji 悲 lays 非 (not) over 心 (heart). The grain of a heart not in its place — sadness spreading over a film, a parting, an accident. It pairs with 嬉しい, and parts ways with 寂しい — sadness against loneliness. Hardened into a noun it is 悲しみ, a word poetry and literature love to cradle. Kanji-reading kin: 悲 reads Korean 'bi' (悲劇), Mandarin bēi.

Quick check

1. "I feel lonely because my friend is gone" — best adjective?

   • 寂しい samishii (loneliness from absence — correct)
   • 悲しい kanashii (sadness over events, broader)
   • 嬉しい (happy, wrong)
   • 楽しい (fun, wrong)