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According to WWWJDIC, ぬるい and ぬくい are both written 温い. Anthy and the iOS
Japanese input systems agree.

However a native speaker and the input of an electronic dictionary (広辞苑）say
that

  * 温い is read as ぬくい and means pleasantly lukewarm.
  * 微温い is read as ぬるい and means "not warm enough" lukewarm.

There is a note in WWWJDIC acknowledging 微温い yet Anthy and iOS do not offer
微温い as an option for ぬくい or ぬるい.

I suppose I should be aware of all these different variations but

  * is there an "official" position on 温い, 微温い, ぬくい and ぬるい?
  * Does "微温い" have an alternative reading (e.g. that Anthy would map to 微温い)?
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kanji readings homophonic-kanji input-method
微温い versus 温い versus ぬくい versus ぬるい
I haven't personally seen or heard ぬくい as often, though I know it is used
occasionally. That's probably because it's a dialect, likely from the western
part of Japan (according to [this
entry](http://ejje.weblio.jp/content/%E5%BE%AE%E6%B8%A9%E3%81%84)).

Since ぬるい and ぬくい are just different ways of pronouncing 温い and 微温い, I think
it doesn't really make sense to put all four in order. Perhaps it is the
difference between 温い and 微温い you wish to know.

My impression by just looking at these 漢字 is that the latter, 微温い, means less
warm than 温い, since the character 微 signifies that there is only a little
amount of something (i.e., warmth in this case).

As for the difference in sounds, I cannot say for sure for ぬくい since I'm not
from the region in which the dialect is prevalent, ぬるい certainly is used to
mean "not as warm as desired." However, it is probably right that ぬくい is used
in a more "positive" manner. For example, ぬくぬく is an expression that can be
used to describe the state of feeling pleasant warmth, being worry-free, etc.,
so the connotation in general is positive (although ぬくぬくと育つ can mean the kid
has been raised spoiled, so it is used like that as well).
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> is there an "official" position on 温い, 微温い, ぬくい and ぬるい?

"Official" according to whom? If you mean according to the standard dialect.
ぬくい is perfectly fine 標準語 _although_ it is much more commonly used in other
parts of Japan, which is why some people think it is 方言. Now, in my experience
ぬるい is used to be negative, that something is not warm enough, so I don't
think you can use it to mean just "warm". I also hear ぬくとい sometimes instead
of ぬくい.

> Does "微温い" have an alternative reading (e.g. that Anthy would map to 微温い)?

Both are generally written in hiragana and the 漢字 forms are not as common. 微温い
and 温い can be read as ぬるい or ぬくい, although ぬくい is not as commonly used as ぬるい,
so most of the time it should be read as ぬるい unless otherwise specified. If
微温い is ever read as ぬくい, there will probably be ruby text showing you since it
would be an irregular reading. Also, you may see 微温い used instead of 温い in
novels, etc. because the characters 微温 signify that it is not very warm.

**Side Note**

I have found may mistakes in WWWJDIC. I suggest using a better dictionary like
広辞苑, etc.
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