可愛がる

Etymology

Derived as compound of 可愛い (kawaii, “cute, adorable”) +‎ がる (garu, “feeling or thinking that way”, suffix applied to nouns and adjective stems to create a verb).^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) かわいが​る [kàwáígáꜜrù] (Nakadaka – [4])^[2][3]
  • IPA^(key): [ka̠ɰᵝa̠iɡa̠ɾɯ̟ᵝ]

Verb

可愛がる (hiragana かわいがる, rōmaji kawaigaru, historical hiragana かはいがる)

1. to adore, to be sweet on
2. (ironically, from the idea of giving special attention to) to persistently bother or annoy someone, to be a noodge to someone
3. (ironically, from the idea of giving special attention to) to bully someone, to beat someone
4. (ironically, from the idea of giving special attention to) to train someone very strenuously

References