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ネタバレ netabare
Spoilers. Say no more.
What does netabare mean?
ネタ (the material) plus バレ (getting exposed). Japanese fandom takes spoiler etiquette seriously — you are expected to warn before you reveal anything.
Example
まだ見てないから、ネタバレ禁止ね。
I haven't watched it yet, so no spoilers, okay?
Vibe
Who you can say this to, and how it lands.
Safe to use Fine in ordinary conversation.
The story behind netabare
ネタ has a lovely history: it is タネ, seed or material, said backwards. Reversed words like this were a habit of Edo-period performers and tradespeople, and ネタ survived to mean the material of a joke, a news story, or a plot. Add バレ from バレる, to be found out, and you get the material getting exposed.
Japanese spoiler etiquette is stricter than many places. Warnings go above the fold, hashtags are avoided, and people genuinely stay off their timeline until they have watched. Simulcasting made this harder, since a broadcast at midnight in Tokyo reaches the rest of the world before breakfast. The polite formula, ネタバレ注意, is worth memorizing early.
Get netabare in your pocket
ネタバレ 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.
