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メロい meroi
That smile just took me out.
What does meroi mean?
From mero-mero, the state of a heart gone completely soft. Aimed at a smile, a voice, anyone who ruins your composure.
Example
その笑い方、メロいんだけど。
The way you laugh is melting me.
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 meroi
The parent word is meromero, one of the many doubled sound words Japanese uses for physical states, and it describes something soft going limp. Applied to people it has long meant helplessly infatuated, the knees going, the composure sliding off.
Meroi is the compressed version, built by treating an adverb as if it were an adjective, which is exactly the kind of cheerful rule breaking that keeps net slang alive. It found its home in fan chat and streaming comments, where reactions need to be typed in under a second. You do not use it about a whole person, usually. You use it about the specific smile that ended you.
Get meroi in your pocket
メロい 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.
