優しい

Pattern visualization

Examples

1. 先生はやさしい人です。▶ —
   The teacher is a kind person.
2. この本は読みやすいです。▶ —
   This book is easy to read.

Collocations

Mnemonic

やさしい — 優しい・易しい, Yamato. An i-adjective. The same sound splits across two kanji ── 優しい: kind, gentle (a judgment of character). 優しい人 (a kind person), 優しい曲 (a gentle tune). 易しい: easy (a rating of difficulty). この問題は易しい (this problem is easy). Two kanji live on the same sound yasashii; the choice of kanji decides whether you're praising a character or rating a difficulty. The suffix ~やすい (easy to) attached to verbs shares the 易 root ── 読みやすい (easy to read), 分かりやすい (easy to understand). Where English splits 'easy' and 'kind' into separate words, Japanese keeps one sound and lets the kanji draw the line. The gentleness extends into metaphor ── 優しい曲 (a gentle melody), 優しい味 (a mild flavour).

Quick check

1. Kanji branch for "やさしい person" vs "やさしい problem"?

   • 優しい人 (kind) vs 易しい問題 (easy)
   • Both 優しい
   • Both 易しい
   • Same kanji regardless