やや

やや is an adverb meaning 'a little bit' or 'slightly'. It softens or hedges the degree, more formal than ちょっと but less strong than かなり. Common in written and formal speech. It can modify i-adjectives directly: やや難しい, or modify na-adjectives when used before a noun: やや静かな街, and it can appear with verbs in the te-form to describe a small degree: やや遅れて到着した. It’s often used when evaluating something cautiously (e.g., weather, results, performance).