308 words · 8 categories
Japanese slang, explained.
やばい, 推し, 草, エモい. What they mean, how they sound, and who you can actually say them to. Read every word here — or put all 308 of them in your pocket.
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Eight words, one from each category
- Slang やばい yabai
Amazing. Terrible. Insane.
- Otaku 推し oshi
My one and only fave.
- Internet 草 kusa
lol, literally grass.
- Untranslatable エモい emoi
Beautiful in a way that aches.
- Reactions それな sorena
Exactly. So true.
- Cute もふもふ mofumofu
So fluffy you have to touch it.
- Everyday タイパ taipa
Was that worth my minutes?
- Anime-ish ツンデレ tsundere
Prickly outside, sweet inside.
What you get
Not a dictionary entry. A card you want to look at.
Every word gets the same five things — and one of them is the one dictionaries never give you.
- Meaning
- One punchy line, then the full sense in plain English.
- Example
- An original Japanese sentence, translated — never a quote, never a brand.
- Vibe
- Safe to use, Friends only, or Be careful — plus tone hints like self-deprecating, internet, or Kansai dialect.
- Culture note
- Where it sits in Japanese life, when there is something worth knowing.
- The story
- A short read on where the word came from and who says it now. When an origin is genuinely disputed, it says so instead of picking one.
Watch
やばい in thirty seconds
One word, one story. There are more on the yabai page and on seven other word pages.
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Where you hear it
A Japanese culture snack.
Open it for a minute, meet one word, close it. No streaks, no tests, no levels, no guilt. The dictionary ships inside the app in 13 languages, every word can be read aloud by your device, and nothing you collect leaves your phone.