寂しい

さびしい · sabishii · JLPT N4 · i-adj

lonely

🏚️ sabi = rust: left alone, things rust — sabishii is that lonely feeling

寂しい shares its root with 錆 (sabi, rust) and the sabi of wabi-sabi: the quiet of things left alone and fading. Sound hook: sob-ishii — lonely enough to sob. The kanji 寂 also reads jaku, as in 静寂 (seijaku), silence.

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