Japanese Slang for Emotion & Reaction

adjective · Informal · DA-roo-i

Sluggish, heavy-limbed, drained — the physical feeling of a fever coming on or of four hours' sleep.

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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.

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.

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.

interjection · Colloquial · FAI-toh

Go on, you can do it. Shouted at someone about to take an exam, run a race or go into a difficult meeting — encouragement, never an instruction to fight.

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.

phrase, adjective · Informal · HAN-pa nai

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

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

noun, interjection · Informal · KOO-sa

lol. Written at the end of a message, or alone, to mark that something is funny.

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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'.

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adjective · Informal · men-DOI

Too much hassle; can't be bothered. Applied to tasks, procedures and, unkindly, to people who require managing.

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.

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.

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 · 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.

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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.

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phrase, adjective · Colloquial · shoh-ga-NAI

It can't be helped; nothing to be done. Closes off complaint about something outside anyone's control.

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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.

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.

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.

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adjective · Informal · oo-ZAI

Annoying; grating; won't leave you alone. Of a person, a noise, a notification or a rule.

Use with care

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'.

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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