Japan · Japanese映える (baeru)
verb, adjective · Informal · BA-eh-ru
To photograph well; to look good on a feed. Of food, a café, an outfit or a view chosen partly because it will.
Japan · Japanese
Japanese Slang
Japanese slang is shaped by a feature the language has and most others do not: an obligatory politeness system. Every sentence already encodes how the speaker ranks themselves against the listener, so slang in Japanese is rarely just a word choice — it is a declaration that the formal register has been switched off, and using it with the wrong person is a social error before it is a vocabulary one.
The productive machinery is worth learning on its own. Nouns become verbs with a -ru ending (Google becomes ググる), adjectives contract in speech (すごい becomes すげー), and long compounds shorten to four syllables (コストパフォーマンス becomes コスパ). Learn those three patterns and a great deal of what looks like new slang turns out to be a word you already know, wearing a shorter coat.
Every entry below is given in Japanese script with a Hepburn romanization, because a word you cannot type is a word you cannot look up.
68 terms, each with definitions and worked examples.
By topic
Each page below collects every Japanese term we have on one subject, side by side.
Start with these
The terms below carry the most usage detail — register, origin and the situations where they go wrong. They are the ones worth reading in full before the rest.
All Japanese slang A–Z
68 terms
Terms beginning with B
バイト (baito)
noun, verb · Colloquial · BAI-toh
A part-time job, and the shift you work at it. The standard word for student and casual work, used in job adverts as readily as in conversation.
バズる (bazuru)
verb · Colloquial · BA-zoo-ru
To go viral. Of a post, a video or a shop that suddenly has a queue round the block because of one.
+1 more sense
微妙 (bimyō)
adjective · Colloquial · bee-MYOH
Meh; not great; iffy. The polite way to say something is bad without saying it is bad, and understood as such by everyone.
+1 more sense
ぼっち (botchi)
noun · Informal · BOT-chee
On your own, with the implication that you would rather not be. ぼっち飯 is eating lunch alone at school or work, a small social dread in Japan.
+1 more sense
ブラック企業 (burakku kigyō)
noun · Colloquial · boo-RAK-koo kee-GYOH
An exploitative employer: unpaid overtime, impossible quotas, bullying, staff who leave within the year. A recognised category in public debate rather than a private joke.
ブサイク (busaiku)
noun, adjective · Informal · boo-SAI-koo
Ugly; badly put together. Used of faces above all, and cruelly frank by the standards of English public speech.
Use with care
Terms beginning with C
チャラい (charai)
adjective · Informal · cha-RAI
Flashy and insubstantial; a bit of a player. Of a man whose clothes, patter and dating history all suggest he should not be relied upon.
ちょっと (chotto)
adverb, interjection · Colloquial · CHOT-toh
A little; a bit. The literal quantity sense, which learners get on day one.
+2 more senses
Terms beginning with D
大丈夫 (daijōbu)
adjective, interjection · Colloquial · dai-JOH-bu
All right; fine; safe. Asked of someone who has just tripped, or said of a plan that will hold.
+1 more sense
だるい (darui)
adjective · Informal · DA-roo-i
Sluggish, heavy-limbed, drained — the physical feeling of a fever coming on or of four hours' sleep.
+1 more sense
ダサい (dasai)
adjective · Informal · da-SAI
Naff; uncool; trying and failing. Of clothes, a design, a name, a gesture — anything that misses the mark stylistically.
ドン引き (donbiki)
noun, verb · Informal · don-BEE-kee
The moment a room goes cold because someone has said or done something off-putting. Both the reaction and the atmosphere it creates.
ドンマイ (donmai)
interjection · Colloquial · don-MAI
Never mind; don't sweat it. Said to someone who has just made a mistake, to wave it away before they apologise.
ドタキャン (dotakyan)
noun, verb · Colloquial · doh-ta-KYAN
A last-minute cancellation — pulling out on the day, or an hour before. Used as a noun and as a verb: ドタキャンされた, 'they bailed on me'.
Terms beginning with E
Terms beginning with F
Terms beginning with G
ガチ (gachi)
adjective, adverb · Informal · GA-chi
For real; no messing about; done in earnest rather than casually. ガチで走る is to actually run, not jog.
+1 more sense
ガッツリ (gattsuri)
adverb · Informal · GAT-tsu-ree
Properly; heartily; a serious amount. Of food above all — ガッツリ系 is the whole genre of large, meaty, unapologetic dishes.
+1 more sense
合コン (gōkon)
noun · Colloquial · GOH-kon
A group blind date: a few friends of one gender meet the same number of another at a restaurant, arranged by one person from each side.
+1 more sense
ググる (guguru)
verb · Colloquial · GOO-goo-ru
To google. Fully naturalised: it conjugates like any Japanese verb — ググった, ググれば, ググっとく.
逆ギレ (gyakugire)
noun, verb · Informal · gya-koo-GHEE-reh
Getting angry at the person who has just caught you out — turning a justified complaint back on the complainant.
Terms beginning with H
半端ない (hanpa nai)
phrase, adjective · Informal · HAN-pa nai
Off the scale; no half measures about it. An intensifier for quantity, quality or intensity, positive or negative.
腹ペコ (harapeko)
adjective, noun · Informal · ha-ra-PEH-koh
Starving; stomach completely empty. Childlike in flavour and used affectionately by adults.
Terms beginning with I
一応 (ichiō)
adverb · Colloquial · ee-CHEE-oh
More or less; just in case; technically speaking. Attaches to a claim to lower its confidence without withdrawing it.
+1 more sense
イケメン (ikemen)
noun · Colloquial · EE-keh-men
A good-looking man. Neutral, extremely common, and usable in print — magazines and television use it without irony.
陰キャ (inkya)
noun · Informal · IN-kya
A shadow type: quiet, indoorsy, not part of the loud group. Its opposite, 陽キャ (yōkya), is the sunny, sociable kind.
+1 more sense
Use with care
Terms beginning with K
神 (kami)
noun, adjective · Informal · KA-mee
Used as a modifier: superlative, flawless. 神対応 is exemplary conduct, 神回 is a perfect episode, 神アプリ is an app that does exactly what you needed.
+1 more sense
きもい (kimoi)
adjective · Informal · kee-MOI
Creepy; gross; skin-crawling. Much harsher than 'gross' in English when aimed at a person — a standard piece of schoolyard cruelty.
Use with care
告る (kokuru)
verb · Informal · koh-KOO-ru
To confess your feelings and formally ask someone out. In Japan this is a discrete event with a yes-or-no answer, not a gradual drift into dating.
コスパ (kosupa)
noun · Colloquial · KOS-pa
Value for money. コスパがいい is good value; コスパが悪い is a rip-off.
+1 more sense
空気読めない (kūki yomenai)
phrase, adjective · Colloquial · KOO-kee yo-meh-nai
Unable to sense the mood of a room — the person who keeps arguing after everyone has moved on, or raises a question at the exact wrong moment.
+1 more sense
草 (kusa)
noun, interjection · Informal · KOO-sa
lol. Written at the end of a message, or alone, to mark that something is funny.
+1 more sense
Terms beginning with M
マジで (maji de)
adverb, interjection · Informal · MA-ji deh
Seriously; for real. As an intensifier before an adjective or verb: マジで美味しい, 'seriously good'.
+1 more sense
めっちゃ (meccha)
adverb · Colloquial · MET-cha
Very, really, loads — a general intensifier, and in casual speech far more common than the textbook とても.
めんどい (mendoi)
adjective · Informal · men-DOI
Too much hassle; can't be bothered. Applied to tasks, procedures and, unkindly, to people who require managing.
元カノ (motokano)
noun · Colloquial · moh-toh-KA-noh
An ex-girlfriend. 元カレ is the male equivalent, and the two are used symmetrically.
Terms beginning with N
なんか (nanka)
adverb, interjection · Colloquial · NAN-ka
Like; sort of; somehow. A hedge and a pause-filler, dropped in wherever an English speaker would say 'like' or 'I dunno, kind of'.
+1 more sense
二次会 (nijikai)
noun · Colloquial · nee-jee-KAI
The second venue of the night, moved to as a group when the first party ends. Karaoke, a bar, a smaller restaurant.
+1 more sense
飲み放題 (nomihōdai)
noun · Colloquial · noh-mee-HOH-dai
All you can drink, for a fixed price and — always — a fixed time, usually ninety or a hundred and twenty minutes with a last-order warning.
+1 more sense
飲み会 (nomikai)
noun · Colloquial · noh-mee-KAI
A drinking party: a booked table, a set course, a fixed start time and, in a work context, an attendance list.
+1 more sense
沼 (numa)
noun · Informal · NOO-ma
A hobby, fandom or rabbit hole you have sunk into and cannot climb out of. 沼にハマる is to fall in; 沼落ち is the moment it happens.
Terms beginning with O
推し (oshi)
noun · Informal · OH-shee
Your favourite — the member of a group, the character or the performer you personally back and promote.
+1 more sense
おっさん (ossan)
noun · Informal · OS-san
A middle-aged bloke. Rude to his face — the neutral word is おじさん — but ordinary in the third person and very common self-deprecatingly.
Use with care
おっす (ossu)
interjection · Informal · OS-su
Yo. A brusque male greeting, standard in martial-arts clubs and sports teams and used casually between male friends.
オタク (otaku)
noun · Colloquial · oh-TA-koo
Someone with an all-consuming hobby — anime and games canonically, but also railways, idols or military history. The English borrowing has narrowed to anime alone; the Japanese word has not.
+1 more sense
お疲れ (otsukare)
interjection, phrase · Colloquial · oh-tsu-KA-reh
The all-purpose workplace greeting: hello, goodbye, well done, thanks for your effort. Said on arrival, on leaving, in corridors and at the end of anything.
+1 more sense
Terms beginning with P
パクる (pakuru)
verb · Informal · pa-KOO-ru
To nick — to rip off someone's idea, design or joke and pass it off as your own.
+1 more sense
ぴえん (pien)
interjection, noun · Informal · pee-EN
A small, performed sadness — the spoken equivalent of the 🥺 face. Used for disappointments nobody expects you to take seriously: sold-out cake, rain on a day off.
Terms beginning with R
Terms beginning with S
サボる (saboru)
verb · Informal · sa-BO-ru
To skive; to skip a class or a shift, or to coast through work you are supposed to be doing.
最高 (saikō)
adjective, noun · Colloquial · sai-KOH
The best; perfect; couldn't be better. The default enthusiastic verdict on food, weather, a day out or a person.
社畜 (shachiku)
noun · Informal · SHA-chee-koo
A corporate drone: someone whose life has been wholly absorbed by their employer. Almost always self-applied, with dark humour.
しんどい (shindoi)
adjective · Colloquial · shin-DOI
Exhausting; hard going. Covers physical tiredness and emotional strain alike, and is the usual word for a period of life that is simply difficult.
+1 more sense
塩対応 (shio taiō)
noun · Informal · SHEE-oh tai-OH
A cold reception: technically polite, emotionally flat. Of an idol who signs an autograph without looking up, or a colleague answering in monosyllables.
+1 more sense
しょうがない (shō ga nai)
phrase, adjective · Colloquial · shoh-ga-NAI
It can't be helped; nothing to be done. Closes off complaint about something outside anyone's control.
+1 more sense
それな (sore na)
phrase, interjection · Informal · soh-reh-NA
Exactly; this; so true. A whole-hearted agreement with what has just been said, and nothing more — it adds no content of its own.
すげー (sugē)
adjective, interjection · Informal · soo-GEH
Wow; amazing. The flattened, drawled form of すごい, and markedly rougher — it reads as male and casual, though young women use it too.
Terms beginning with T
とりあえず (toriaezu)
adverb · Colloquial · toh-ree-AH-ezu
For now; to start with; anyway. Marks a provisional decision made to stop deliberating rather than because it is the right one.
+1 more sense
尊い (tōtoi)
adjective · Informal · TOH-toy
So wonderful it hurts. Fandom vocabulary, said of an idol, a character or a pairing whose existence the speaker finds almost unbearably good.
詰んだ (tsunda)
verb, interjection · Informal · TSOON-da
I'm done for; there's no way out of this. Said of a situation with no remaining options, usually with more theatre than despair.
ツンデレ (tsundere)
noun, adjective · Informal · TSOON-deh-reh
Someone prickly on the surface and soft underneath, who shows affection by insulting you and then quietly doing you a favour.
+1 more sense
Terms beginning with U
ウケる (ukeru)
verb · Informal · oo-KEH-ru
That's hilarious; I'm dying. Said as a reaction, usually to something the other person has just said or done.
+1 more sense
うざい (uzai)
adjective · Informal · oo-ZAI
Annoying; grating; won't leave you alone. Of a person, a noise, a notification or a rule.
Use with care
Terms beginning with W
わかりみ (wakarimi)
noun · Informal · wa-ka-REE-mee
Relatability; the quality of being something you deeply get. Usually in わかりみが深い — 'I feel that in my bones'.
割り勘 (warikan)
noun · Colloquial · wa-ree-KAN
Splitting the bill evenly — total divided by heads, not by what each person ate. The default among friends and colleagues of similar rank.
Terms beginning with Y
やばい (yabai)
adjective, interjection · Informal · ya-BA-i
Originally: dangerous, dodgy, about to go badly wrong. Still used this way — やばい、遅刻する is 'damn, I'm going to be late'.
+1 more sense
ヤンキー (yankī)
noun · Colloquial · YAN-kee
A delinquent teenager of a very specific Japanese kind: dyed hair, modified school uniform, squatting outside a convenience store, quite possibly a scooter.
+1 more sense