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チルい chirui
Chill. Relaxed vibes.
What does chirui mean?
The English word chill turned into a Japanese adjective. Slow playlists, long afternoons, something cold in a can.
Example
この曲、チルいね。
This song is so chill.
Vibe
Who you can say this to, and how it lands.
Friends only Casual. Natural with friends, out of place at work or with strangers.
The story behind chirui
Chill came into Japanese the way English adjectives usually do, by borrowing the sound and bolting on the ending that makes a word conjugate. The same machinery gave Japanese its adjective for something being tasty in a foreign register, and it never asks the source language for permission.
The timing was late 2010s, carried by music: slow instrumental playlists, quiet late-night streams, the whole culture of putting something soft on in the background while doing nothing in particular. That is why chirui rarely describes people. It describes an atmosphere you have chosen to sit inside, usually with a cold drink and no plans at all.
Get chirui in your pocket
チルい is one of 308 words in YABAI, a Japanese culture snack for Android. Every word comes with its meaning, an example sentence, a vibe check and a story like the one above — in 13 languages, read aloud by your device. Paid app: no ads, no sign-up, no subscription.
