きれい

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. きれいな花ですね。▶ —
   What a pretty flower.
2. 部屋をきれいにしてください。▶ —
   Please tidy the room.

Collocations

Mnemonic

きれい — 綺麗, a na-adjective. It sounds like a Yamato word but its origin is Sino-Japanese (綺麗). First trap: it ends in い yet is a na-adjective, not an i-adjective ── before a noun, きれいな花 (きれい花 is wrong). Do not be fooled by the final い. One word holds two meanings ── pretty, beautiful: きれいな人 (a beautiful person). clean, tidy: きれいな部屋 (a tidy room). Korean splits 'pretty' and 'clean', but Japanese gathers them under きれい ── a gaze that sees beauty and cleanliness as one quality. The kanji 綺麗 is 綺 (fine silk) + 麗 (lovely) ── originally 'lovely as silk'. Today it is written mostly in kana, but the texture of silk remains in the etymology.

Quick check

1. Is きれい a na-adjective or an i-adjective?

   • na-adjective (きれいな~) — correct trap
   • i-adjective (would say きれい家 — wrong)
   • Either (no, fixed as na)
   • Noun-only (wrong)