Japanese Slang for Approval & Praise

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.

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.

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adjective · Informal · da-SAI

Naff; uncool; trying and failing. Of clothes, a design, a name, a gesture — anything that misses the mark stylistically.

adjective · Informal · EH-moi

Moving in a wistful, nostalgic way. Covers the feeling an old photograph, a summer evening or a song from your teens produces — not sadness and not quite happiness.

phrase, adjective · Informal · HAN-pa nai

Off the scale; no half measures about it. An intensifier for quantity, quality or intensity, positive or negative.

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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'.

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