Bitch Means What in Japanese?? Nine Times Japan Changed the Meaning of Words

Learning a foreign language involves a lot of things. You must get used to new grammar and word order and internalize a different phonetic system. You need to learn how verb conjugation works in the language, so you can express yourself to others. You also need to “reset” the meanings of some words you already know, because they have different meanings in the new language. Let’s explore the unique definition of the word “bitch” in Japanese, with some other examples of times when Japan changed the meaning of English words!

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Why Does ‘Bitch’ Mean ‘Slut’ in Japanese?

The English word bitch entered Japanese in the late ’80s, probably through rap music. While the Internet tells me that ‘bitch’ is a term for a female dog, fox, or otter (I didn’t know those last two), it’s generally used as an unkind word for a woman, or (alternately) as a self-applied label by some women. The word is old, showing up in Shakespeare’s King Lear in 1605.

But when the Japanese imported the word bitch from English, it acquired a sexual meaning closer to “slut” that generally isn’t present in its English usage. It basically became a cooler, more stylish replacement word for yariman, a rude slang word for a girl with lots of sexual experience. The word became popular in anime in the 2010s, for example in shows like WataMote: No Matter How I Look At It, It’s You Guys’ Fault I’m Not Popular! and My Girlfriend is a Virgin Bitch.

What was the first word you learned in Japanese? Read my blog post here!

Japanese Is Not a Difficult Language to Learn

People look at me like I’m crazy when I tell them I didn’t find Japanese a terribly difficult language to learn. It took hundreds of hours, it’s true, but for many reasons, the language never felt that hard to acquire. Some reasons include:

Phonetically, Japanese is not difficult at all. There are only five vowel sounds (the same as Spanish or Italian), with no intonation at all. It’s much easier than French or Chinese.
Grammar is often much simpler than English. Many constructions, like “if he hadn’t been working, he wouldn’t have lost his phone,” simply don’t exist in Japanese.
Yes, kanji characters are hard until you realize that no one, not even Japanese people, writes kanji characters in the age of smartphones and computers. So you can focus on reading, which is much easier. In Japan, you can get by if you can read around 500 kanji characters.
Being a fan of anime, manga, and novels from Japan, there are plenty of opportunities to expose ourselves to living elements of the Japanese language and pick up vocabulary.

Another reason Japanese is “easy,” at least for native English speakers, is that there are so many loan words in daily use. This is thanks to the influence of the Occupation after WWII. But they don’t always mean exactly what we think they mean…

What’s in a Bitch? The Meanings of Words Always Change

Is it odd for the meaning of a word to shift when switching from one language to another? Not at all. Look at the way anime otakus have re-defined words related to our hobbies. Hentai has a fairly strong meaning in Japanese along the lines of perverse sexual deviance. But in English, the word simply describes any 18+ anime, manga, or game, and the subculture around such media.

The word otaku is another example. Back in the 1980s, liking anime and manga was something you hid from others, because being called otaku had a significant social stigma. But when Westerners imported the word as a catch-all term for semi-extreme anime fans, they didn’t bother with the negative connotation. Now being an otaku is a badge of honor in the fandom.

Of course, it’s not wrong when a word’s meaning shifts. Literally every word you speak came from elsewhere, and the meaning and phonology have changed over the centuries. Sometimes, words are imported multiple times with multiple meanings. For example, “skirt” and “shirt” come from the same origin, one from Middle English and the other from Old Norse.

What Other Words Did the Japanese Change the Meanings Of?

Words related to women’s fashion and make-up often get imported, from English and sometimes French. The word rouge means “lipstick” in Japanese, and “manicure” is the word for fingernail polish. Want to color your hair? Just ask for a “hair manicure” in any beauty shop.

Another mismapped word is “tension.” While it usually means mental or emotional stress in English, in Japanese, it means excitement and fun. Go figure!

What Do You Call Fizzy Drinks?

What do you call canned carbonated drinks in your part of the world? In the U.S., we call them soft drinks, soda, pop, or Coke, depending on where in the country you live. Somewhat frustratingly, the Japanese will call any canned drink “juice,” even if it’s bottled tea. That’s not juice, guys!

Got a crush on someone and want some advice from a Japanese person on what to do about it? They might tell you to “attack” the person you’re in love with. In this context, the English word means “aggressively pursue a romantic relationship.”

Language speakers sometimes remap words for body parts when they import them. While you or I might think of the “hip” as the side of one’s lower body, to the Japanese it means “ass.” Which is why you might be confused when browsing the “hip-type onaholes” that J-List stocks.

If you live in a mansion, you must have a lot of money, right? Maybe not. In Japan, the word refers to a high-end condominium in a building made of steel rather than wood. A normal apartment building would be called an apaato.

There are endless other examples. When a hotel in Tokyo tried to import Swedish Smörgåsbord — meaning an all-you-can-eat buffet — into Japan, the word proved too difficult for Japanese patrons to pronounce, so they changed it to “Viking” and never looked back. Often, English words used in Japan will sound strange to my American ear…but they’re Britishisms like calling a sedan a “saloon” or the hood of a car the “bonnet.”

Thanks for reading this blog post about some words the Japanese have remapped to mean something new. Do you have any other examples I forgot to mention? Tell us in the comments below!

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