kawaiiEnglishOxford New American Dictionarykawaii /kəˈwī, , kəˈwaɪ , 'käˌwīˌē, 'kɑˌwaɪˌi / ▸ adjective (in the context of Japanese popular culture) cute: she paints elephants that are extremely kawaii. ▸ noun the quality of being cute, or items that are cute: even in a cosmopolitan city like Tokyo, kawaii is everywhere. – ORIGIN Japanese.