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キラキラ kirakira
Sparkling, glittering, twinkly.
What does kirakira mean?
City lights, sequins, a river at noon, and the eyes of someone who just got very good news. Pure visual sparkle.
Example
夜景がキラキラしてきれいだね。
The night view is sparkling — it's beautiful.
Vibe
Who you can say this to, and how it lands.
Safe to use Fine in ordinary conversation.
The story behind kirakira
Sparkle in its purest form: night views, sequins, a river at noon, the eyes of a child holding the toy. It is one of the first mimetic words foreign learners actually enjoy, partly because it sounds like what it means in any language.
It also names two social phenomena. Kirakira names are the flashy given names with unconventional readings that grew common in the 2000s and became a national argument, since Japanese family registers traditionally recorded the characters but not how to say them, a gap officials eventually moved to close. And a kirakira person is someone whose life looks luminous online, which is admiration and gentle suspicion delivered in the same four syllables.
Get kirakira in your pocket
キラキラ 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.
