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What is the difference between 美しき and 麗しき and what is the difference between
美しい and 美しき?

I know that both 美しい女性 and 美しき女性 are correct. But what is the difference
between these two?
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2014-05-30T21:03:29.807
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2014-05-30T22:22:06.163
2014-05-30T21:57:38.127
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adjectives classical-japanese
What is the difference between 美しき and 麗しき？
### Adjective Endings い and き

All the modern い adjectives used to have the following endings (more at [the
JA Wikipedia
article](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%BD%A2%E5%AE%B9%E8%A9%9E#.E3.82.AF.E6.B4.BB.E7.94.A8),
for those who can read Japanese):

  * 未然形{みぜんけい} (imperfective): く
  * 連用形{れんようけい} (adverbial): く
  * 終止形{しゅうしけい} (terminal): し
  * 連体形{れんようけい} (adnominal): き
  * 已然形{いぜんけい} (perfective): けれ
  * 命令形{めいれいけい} (imperative): -

The 未然形 and 連用形 are the same in modern Japanese, still ending in く. The 連体形
ending in classical Japanese was き instead of い, and folks still use that to
sound old-fashioned and/or literary. So too for the 終止形 ending of し, still
seen in literary use or in set phrases like よし (classical terminal form of
modern 良{よ}い).

As for where the き > い shift came from, there was a time around the Muromachi
period when the interstitial _-k-_ fell out entirely for some speakers,
producing forms like はやい for the 連体形 and はやう for the 連用形. This う adverbial
form produced modern terms like おはよう (from 早{はや}い: はやく > はやう > はよう) or おめでとう
(from 愛{め}でる: めでたく > めでたう > めでとう).

For reasons left unclear, the general population ultimately accepted the き > い
shift for the 連体形, but rejected the く > う shift for the 連用形. The 連体形 and the
終止形 then merged, much as they did for verbs, leading to the disappearance of
the し ending.

**TL;DR:** き is old-fashioned and fancified.
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