哀れ
あわれ · aware · JLPT N3 · noun
pathetic
🥀 aware: to be aware of someone's misery is to feel pity
Spelled like English aware, which makes a handy hook. It comes from old sighs of feeling, ah + hare, and it lives on in mono no aware, the gentle sadness of passing things. On its own, 哀れ usually means pitiful or wretched.