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I am learning from 日本語総まとめ which is great generally but I wonder about this
example from N2 文法 (grammar):

> 子供がかわいいからこそ、しかるんです。

which translates to I scold my children because I care for them.

This was teaching こそ meaning because.

Implying that が かわいい in this context means care for. Is this a true
translation? I thought it was something like 飼う but my teacher said it wasn't-
just the cute, nice... meaning adjective. Where is this usage referenced?
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2013-10-29T07:03:11.983
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usage adjectives
かわいい　meaning care for
Just [ask the
dictionary](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E3%81%8B%E3%82%8F%E3%81%84%E3%81%84):

> (1)深{ふか}い愛情{あいじょう}をもって大切{たいせつ}に扱{あつか}ってやりたい気持{きも}ちである。  
>  「わたしの―・い息子{むすこ}へ」「馬鹿{ばか}な子{こ}ほど―・い」

Japanese to English dictionaries often tend to gloss over a lot of nuances, so
it's good whenever possible to use a J-J dictionary. In English, this would
read as "something for which you hold deep affection and treat as important."
The examples refer to "my 'dear' son," for example, which matches the usage of
your sentence. The example sentence in question would be "わたしのかわいい息子へ".

So as for whether it's a 'true' translation, which I assume you mean not to be
in error, or else a literal translation, the answer is of course yes. Because
the speaker cares deeply for this child he/she scolds him/her. Technically it
COULD be that the speaker is just weird and especially enjoys scolding cute
kids, but we have no context to suggest that the definition above is not the
most likely one.

Definition 2 in that dictionary entry is the one that has the typical "cute"
meaning that we tend to associate with the word
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Kawaii, which can be written 可愛い has the same etymology as the verb 可愛がる
(kawaigaru) which has a number of meanings. From what I've seen, in today's
common usage it most often used to refer to petting or playing with a pet.

However, it comes from a verb meaning, essentially "taking care of something
because its kawaii" which is originally "cute in pathetic/helpless way".

I don't know if it helps, but it may be useful to know that the ji in kawaii
literally mean "lovable".
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