Turning い-Adjectives into Adverbs

Question

I recently listened to a song named アザトカワイイ and I started asking myself about the grammar behind this one simple phrase.

According to this site, the title means "Cunningly Cute" which makes sense because cunning in Japanese is あざとい, an い-Adjective.

But then I learned that you actually take the stem and add く to the adjective to make an い-Adjective into an Adverb.

I'm really confused right now LMAO Every input will be appreciated! Thanks in advance! ^~^

You're correct that the adverb is made by the stem + く. That being said, songs are a tricky subject: almost every rule can (and often will be) broken. Another example, a song named 「美しき残酷な世界」. Normally, you'd say 美しくて, but 美しき is an older, fancier way of saying (not used in commonly these days, though). — Jak, Sep 7, 2020 at 0:43
@Jak 美しき残酷な世界 or 美しい残酷な… are correct too in terms of grammar. く and くて are not the only way. — user4092, Sep 7, 2020 at 4:07
@user4092 I didn't mean to imply it was "incorrect" grammar-wise. Sorry if it came across like that. Only that it's not the common way, similar to using "yonder" or "thy" in English. — Jak, Sep 7, 2020 at 11:18

user4092 · Accepted Answer · 2020-09-07 15:59:49Z

2

It's a compound word from the stem of あざとい combined with かわいい, in other words, one word.

Edit: It means to be cute in a manner that you boldly show yourself that way.

answered Sep 7, 2020 at 4:10

user4092

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