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How did the prefixes ひ and か come about and what are the differences in
meaning between ひ弱い and か弱い?

Are either of the prefixes pejorative like how ド is in the examples in
[dainichi's answer](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/4437) to '[Where does
the ド in ド素人 come from?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/4435)' ?

They both seem to emphasise or strengthen the meaning of 弱い but how are they
different in extent or nuance? **What are the situations where you would use
one but not the other?**

(On the grammatical side of things, I noticed ひ弱い, ひ弱な, か弱い but not か弱な. But
I'm not sure if か弱な appearing to be forbidden has any significance.)

Also, I came across a か細い. **Are the prefixes productive?** (Can I also form a
ひ細い? Or prefix か or ひ to other adjectives? It would appear not since ひ細い
doesn't have a dictionary entry )
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2019-12-29T14:21:05.677
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2019-12-30T03:16:58.783
2019-12-29T14:44:21.910
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question
word-choice nuances etymology prefixes
Differences between ひ弱い and か弱い
ひ弱 is usually straightforwardly negative and derogatory. The word sometimes
has the implication of "sickly".

か弱い often refers to a type of weakness that stirs someone's sympathetic
feeling or protective instinct. か弱い is not necessarily negative, and you can
even find articles that says か弱い女性はモテる, in which case the nuance is more or
less close to that of 小動物系 or はかない系 (please use google image search). Other
か弱い beings might include an infant, a Chihuahua, the little match girl,
Cinderella, etc.

Grammatically, ひ弱 is normally used as a na-adjective, and か弱い is always used
as an i-adjective. ひ弱い腕 may not be wrong, but ひ弱な腕 is much more natural and
common. か弱な腕 is plain wrong.

Dictionaries say ひ and か are indeed prefixes, but these are fairly rare and
it's impossible for me to generalize their usage. They are not productive, and
I cannot think of other adjectives that contain the same prefixes.
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2019-12-29T21:17:35.427
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2019-12-30T03:16:58.783
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answer