いたわしい

Forms

• いたわしい → いたわしく (adverbially)
• いたわしい → いたわしくない (negative)
• いたわしい → いたわしかった (past)

Writing

Can be written as 痛(いた)わしい or 労(いたわ)しい, but hiragana is the usual choice.

Etymology

From the verb いたわる (to care for, to feel sympathy for), so the feeling is closer to tender concern than to contempt.

Usage

Used of a person's suffering or fate that the speaker witnesses and feels for:

• いたわしい最期(さいご) (pitiful end)
• いたわしい運命(うんめい) (tragic fate)
• いたわしい限(かぎ)りだ (extremely pitiful)

Register

Literary and formal. It appears in news writing, literature, and careful speech; it is not used in everyday conversation.

Similar words

• 哀(あわ)れ - pitiful, pathetic; can carry a note of disdain that いたわしい lacks
• 気(き)の毒(どく) - unfortunate; the everyday word for sympathizing with someone's bad luck
• かわいそう - poor thing; colloquial, and used freely of children and animals