18942
Please consider these two sentences (彼女 is a woman):

>   1. 彼女はきれいです。
>   2. 彼女は美しいです。
>

My sense is that #1 and #2 have the same meaning. Pronouncing きれい is easier,
so I have just always said #1. And, I don't think that I've heard "美しい" spoken
much, if ever.

What is the difference between #1 and #2?  
Regardless of the difference, native speakers still don't say 美しい very much?
きれい is what "sounds natural"?
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2014-10-03T17:22:36.237
18929
2014-10-05T07:36:03.347
2014-10-05T07:36:03.347
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question
word-choice
Describing a woman with きれい vs. 美しい{うつくしい}?
Checking against a [this corpus](http://www.kotonoha.gr.jp/shonagon/) reveals
that 「きれいです」 occurs a lot more often than 「美しいです」:

```

    きれいです: 228
    美しいです: 47
    
```

So, it seems that using 「きれい」occurs a lot more than 「美しい」 when being used in
an XXX+です sentence.

From personal experience, I would almost always use 「きれい」 or 「かわいい」 when
commenting on an adult female before 「美しい」.

This **shouldn't** be taken to mean that 「美しい」 is not a common word, or not
commonly used. Referencing the same corpus:

```

    きれい: 6792
    美しい: 6364
    
```

Regarding the meaning though, if someone did say 「美しい」 (or 「美人」) I would
consider her to be better looking than 「きれい」.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-10-04T21:33:19.763
18942
2014-10-04T22:03:01.997
2014-10-04T22:03:01.997
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answer