最愛 saiai Beloved

最 (sai) is the superlative, most of all; 愛 (ai) is to hold someone dear, to love. Together they say most loved, and the dictionaries add what matters for a design: the word names the person as well as the feeling, so it stands alone with no person after it, and its second sense is the bond between husband and wife.

Its register is the solemn one, the word of the love letter and the will, the eulogy and the prayer, spoken most often over the greatest losses because it names the greatest love, and it admits only one: Japanese has said outright that you cannot call two people 最愛. It says most beloved and nothing about time; a design that wants forever adds a second word, and the two characters that say one thing whole are the stronger tattoo.

Beloved has been its English since the first Japanese-English dictionary, beside dearest and darling, and the words a buyer might be offered instead are each weaker: 愛妻 (aisai) the domestic wife, 恋人 (koibito) a sweetheart, 最愛の人 this word with a noun it does not need.

最愛 is composed of the kanji 最 (read sai) meaning "utmost; most; extreme" and 愛 (read ai) meaning "love; affection".

We want you to be as happy with the meaning as you are with Master Takase's art. To learn more, visit Philology of 最愛.

Each design is Master Japanese Calligrapher Eri Takase's hand-brushed calligraphy of the word or phrase on this page, delivered as a PDF you can print. Every PDF includes the line art, so a tattoo artist or a craftsperson can work from the outline as well as the brushed image.

Your purchase includes a personal-use license: use the design as a tattoo reference, frame it, engrave it, print it for yourself, or make it into a gift. For more information see Licensing, which also covers commercial-use options that may be purchased separately.

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