Japanese Slang, Jargon, and New Words from Double-Tongued Dictionary

Japanese language, including Japlish. You can also see entries assigned to this category.

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shi-shi n. You gotta go shi-shi, honey? Better go benjo now, you might not get another chance. [Hawaii Japanese] [full cite] (Jul. 15, 2005)

shoichi puroburemu n. The term shoichi puroburemu (first-grade students’ problems) was coined to refer to the situation as most of the students who cause trouble are those who cannot adapt to their new surroundings. [English-derived Japanese Japan] [full cite] (May. 15, 2004)

shoshika n. The decline in Japan’s birth rate is so severe they have invented a word for it—“shoshika,” meaning a society without children. [Japanese Japan] [full cite] (Dec. 3, 2004)

shuto n. He also throws a pitch known in Japan as a “shuto” that essentially is a screwball—though he didn’t use it Wednesday. [Japanese Baseball Sports & Recreation] [full cite] (Mar. 23, 2007)

su doku n. “You won’t find Su Doku in a Japanese dictionary,” said puzzle creator Wayne Gould in The Times of London. “It’s a coined word, made up by a Japanese publisher.…As I understand it ‘Su’ stands for number, and ‘Doku’ has some notion of singularity or bachelorhood about it, emphasizing perhaps that there is only one of each number in each unit (row/column/box).” [Japanese Entertainment] [full cite] (Apr. 5, 2005)

sucosh n. “Sucosh” is a nickname derived from a Japanese word that means “a little bit more.” It is a common term in carpentry. [ Language Japanese] [full cite] (Oct. 15, 2005)

wota n. My informant explained that wota—which is pronounced “oh-tah”—are an offshoot branch of Japan’s hobby-obsessed tribe of introverts known as otaku. While regular otaku seek out anime figurines and high-tech gizmos, the infatuation of the nation’s estimated tens of thousands of wota is for girl idols—particularly the pop group Morning Musume.…To distinguish themselves from run-of-the-mill otaku—computer geeks, anime freaks and the like—wota chopped off the “-ku” at the end of the word and, with a touch of playfulness, slapped on a “w” up front. (Typing “wo” on a Japanese computer keyboard renders a kana syllable pronounced “oh.”) [Japanese Japan Pastimes & Hobbies Technology Slang] [full cite] (Jan. 17, 2005)

yuba n. It came as quite a surprise to find myself sitting in a sliver of a restaurant in Kyoto called Kappo Sakamoto, swooning over a dish of tofu—or tofu skin, to be more precise. Called yuba, it arrived in a handmade wooden box, simmering in water heated by a piece of charcoal. [English Japanese Food & Drink] [full cite] (Aug. 10, 2006)

zafu n. The bathroom is our meditation place. It acts as a Dojo (Japanese word for the place where Zen meditation is done) and the toilet is our Zafu (Japanese for the black cotton cushion used in Zen meditation). [Japanese Japan] [full cite] (Jun. 4, 2004)

(6/6 pages) « First < 4 5 6