interjection
poor thing!; what a pity!
An interjection expressing sympathy or pity toward someone or something. Often used when seeing someone in a pitiable situation.
雨に濡れて震えている子犬を見て、「かわいそうに」と言った。
Seeing the puppy shivering in the rain, she said, "Poor thing!"
彼はまた試験に落ちたんだって。かわいそうに。
I heard he failed the exam again. What a pity.
かわいそう is the adjective meaning 'pitiful' or 'poor', used in sentences like かわいそうな子 (a poor child). かわいそうに is the interjection form, used as an exclamation.
Derived from the adjective かわいそう (pitiful), which itself comes from かわいい (cute, pitiable) + そう (seeming). The interjection かわいそうに uses the adverbial form に.