This is not random this is a true fact ^_^

In 2004 it was 'otaku’, then last year they added the word 'hikikomori’ and now the Oxford English Dictionary is at it again by adding the word 'kawaii’ into the English language dictionary.

The definition is as follows:
adjective
(in the context of Japanese popular culture) cute: she paints elephants that are extremely kawaii
noun
[mass noun]
the quality of being cute, or items that are cute: even in a cosmopolitan city like Tokyo, kawaii is everywhere

So I guess that technically you can now use that word in your everyday speech and say that it’s a proper dictionary word and everything.

What other words do you think should be added to the English dictionary? I’d vote for 'tsundere’ personally but I think that word has a long way to go before being popular enough for inclusion within the dictionary.

Whose idea was it to put this word in the dictionary?
Name and address, please.

As much as I like the Japanese I don't think it should have been added to the English dictionary. The languages are different and should remain in seperate dictionaries. I dislike the idea of everyone speaking one mass language in the future and this is making way for that.

I think it opens peoples minds to others languages and the fact that it's added to the dictionary proves Native English speakers are using it! As to answer the post hmmmm... maybe moe??

>>3 i half agree with this. on one hand, it IS a foreign word that we did not come up with, but at the same time a lot of words we use in the english language either ARE from another language or are derived from a different language, so the only difference i can think of is that these "foreign" words are used more often than others. If people use "Kawaii" often enough to be considered a word that's integrated into our vocabulary, i would agree. however, i really dont see people using this word on a daily basis and i bet that at least 90% of all english speakers do not have a clue what it means.

that is soo awesome

Yeah but others of English speaking countries might... There are many of them (^^)

>>7 i intentionally said english speaking countries in order to include more than just America and England, but even then i think that a good portion of them either do not know what it means or just never use it. i know i don't

I dare someone to use it in an English assignment

Great, now weeaboos can justify themselves 'cause the handful of Japanese words they obnoxiously spam in their daily speech are in our dictionary. What's next, they'll add the word desu? Ugh...

Wait so i shuoldnt use this word?

>>11 By all means, go ahead.

The fact that it is official and in the dictionary does not stop everyone else from judging you with the same amount of contempt, however.

That means I can be all hipster kitty and go "I used the word "Kawaii" before it was included in the English dictionary". Fufu~ How fun~

>>9 i would like to see that because that will be news worthy

Yay! This is amazing! I wonder how long before we infect all dictionaries everywhere..?

>>15>>13>>6>>4

I hate you.

Just putting that out there.

For a translation you can relate to, daikirai.
Shine kudasai.

I kinda find this bad...It's Japanese words in English dictionary.
Like: If we start changing every dictionary in the world, what would happen? Well, if in Finland, which has only 5 million people and 20% of them speak Swedish,and they start to add Japanese words to Finnish...Only 80% know how to speak Finnish, it's one of the world's hardest language and they start to change it? The original Finnish would be gone. And it becomes Japanese. That is really bad. Finnish is actually used in Lord Of the Rings movie as the Elf-language, (Awesome?! C: ) and still they didn't pronounce words right. Anyway...

So stop changing dictionaries!!! Keep it pure!! :D

hahahahahaha its engrish now? what about hentai? ahaha

This...is...O_o

OMFG IT'S VICTORIQUE! KAWAII!

/do not want 8I

I have no problem with adding new words to the English language, but the problem is the word kawaii does not add any further expression. We have our own word for cute already, so why on earth would we need this one?

I'm fine with the addition of words like otaku, because we have no other word to describe it. (Nerd and geek are similar, but just isn't quite the same thing)
There are so many other Japanese words I'd rather have added over kawaii: practically anything that isn't just a direct translation.

Oh wow, to think that we couldn't get an even worse reputation...this is just more of a reason for people to think that anime fans are all a bunch of weeaboo's with no life or care about their own language...

i really fucking hope this is fake.
Either that or they put a lil note saying its slang or dumb word that really isnt a word

This just in,
Watashi wa chōdo o shiri de no okāsan o okasa
has been added to the Oxford English Dictionary, so it's no longer japanese, it's now considered English!

I really hope someone knows what that sentence says >D

I find this interesting to say the least, and you get Bonus points for showing a picture of Victorique!

bump

the image is so KAwaii that it just became my wallpaper.

Now if we could get a word for Baka(idiot) Ecchi(pervert) and Hotoyte(piss off)!

lol,epic words

Also,DEFINITELY need a word for Tsundere.

>>20 >>28

More people to despise. Cool. Keep it coming, weeaboos.

>>21
Fair enough - otaku has basically become a slang word in english considering how much we bastardized its actual meaning of "overly obsessive geek." I mean, it could even be considered a parody of the term, since it's almost jokingly used to refer to japanophiles. However I don't agree with its usage among those people though, as a thing almost bordering on pride.

It's like if we took a vulgar word from another language and started using it to mean "cool." It's pretty much the same concept.

In this case, we at least had the decency of not changing what it meant, but in that sense it's completely unnecessary to have to add it to the dictionary in the first place. It's simply not an english word. It's bullshit that had been adopted by english speakers because throwing in japanese words into their vocabulary was suddenly the coolest thing since samurais and ninjas.

we need nakama and mugiwara

*sigh* The troubles of accommodating words into an official vocabulary due to a trend...

To be honest, I really don't care about adding words from another language into our own, but the problem is that these definitions only offer some sort of shallow meaning or understanding, and do not offer the sort of context in which this word is to be used properly.

For example, the Japanese word for difficult or hard is muzukashii. You cannot simply use it to describe everything. Muzukashii is what I think to be (I can never really be sure :\) strictly used as an adjective, not a verb or a noun. You cannot say that the rain is pelting hard, by going "ame wa muzukashii desu". It's just simply used in the wrong context. It's like saying "the rain is difficult".

That is the problem here. They are saying that kawaii can be used as a "mass noun". It's not supposed to be. If it is used like that, it would sound like "Hey, look at that cute over there!"

I honestly do not blame Oxford for their ignorance, but they could've at least researched it better, in order to supply some more in-depth understanding in what the word means. I just blame the stupidity of weaboos, who just use the word because they've heard of it being used in an anime, without even trying to give thought to what the context is.

*sigh* And coming from someone who studies Japanese as a second language, I think my long rant has ended.

Oh my God... Japanese words in the English dictionary? That's ridiculous =.= They're different languages and should stay in different dictionaries.
Looks like Japan is trying to take over the world (again) ;D

oh god why.

Moe may be next. O.o

>>34 I know I have many moe feelings :3 but if it were added it'd get a little mark over the e like cliche is supposed to have. You know, because people are going to wonder why we like mows otherwise.

>>9 I hate this but I want to do this.

WHY IS THIS REAL?
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/kawaii

this. . .just made my day

Im going to start using it in my everyday speech and then when my friends say "What?" I will say "Didnt you know Kawaii is normal word its even in the english dictionary."

Oh by the way I love the anime Go-Sick, the ending is so touching and cute! Or should I say its Kawaii!

>>40 No, you shouldn't say that.

And your reasoning is the epitome of why people have an intense dislike for weeaboos (or japanophiles, animetards, uninformed counter-nationalists.. you pick your term, they are synonymous).

Typically one will say "they just don't understand anime!" But really, it all lies in the person. And the amalgamation of their cumulative obnoxiousness is what caused a tragedy like this to befall the english language.

>>41 Well then I guess this is another victory for those weeaboos, we just have to live with it now. Kawaii is now apart of the english language *writes kawaii and definition in dictionary*.

>>42 I wouldn't say that. The fact it is in the dictionary isn't enough to deter people from discouraging its use. The fact still stands that it is an overused fanwank term that is used in place of a synonymous English word for no other reason than to sound omgjapanese.

I have little respect for its usage, and I tend not to say that to peoples' faces since our chats, and now drrrchat, are infested with the type of person inclined to butcher the English language with as much fervor as it takes to almost be considered a damned career.

Perhaps I should have been more outright discriminatory, since something like this happened. While at once I may have corrected people and listened to their bullshit reactions to my complaints as plain discussion, now I have to do it with a vengeance. And that's less fun.

hahahaha, that's funny,
and kawaii :3

For christs sakes these fucking weeaboos with the destruction of the english language theyre no better than the people who decided it was a good idea to change the way you spell COLOUR!!!

>>45 ...

I

what?

The british method of spelling "Color" is "Colour". Kind of like the difference between "blond" and "blonde".

As of today, it's largely a matter of preference which you use - Mainly because no one cares. At all. Which makes the fact that someone took the time to actually change the damn things that much more baffling.

They add these words so people like you can put out words like "weeaboos" and feel linguistically diverse for it. Yes, it's a matter of preference, which means you can choose to not say it and (since it seems to bother you so much) you can choose to ignore it whenever you hear someone saying it. They added it to the dictionary just to point out that it is now an accepted option, not any kind of rule

>>47 Like theater and theatre.

The English language isn't an open-ended melting pot of different cultures and shit - that's what America is supposed to be. The language itself is set in stone, and derived off of a particular base that most western languages are based off of.

Japanese is based off of a completely different language system and origin. Adding in Japanese words just because a particular counterculture insists on its overuse is literally offensive to the language.

>>50 You do know that they added the word Ain't to our English Dictionary because a mass group of people started to use it, don't you? It doesn't matter what words are not English. If the English speakers start using words a lot, it WILL get added in. That is how it is, and has been.

Ain't is a contraction, and a slang word that replaces a different English word.

Kawaii is a japanese word, synonymous to an english word that we already have.

Not sure if you got this point from my last post.

>>51 did you just compare ain't to kawaii -__- dude come on use a better example

>>51 If you went around saying "ain't" in an English speaking country almost everyone would know what you meant. "Kawaii," on the other hand, would only be understood by people that speak Japanese and a select few others. Thus, it's really not "a lot of English speakers."

And what >>52 said.

I don't even need to use any examples. The fact of the matter is that if we, Americans, or even anyone who speaks English (any masses that do as such) start saying ANY word for a long period of time, it will eventually become a word in our Dictionaries. It doesn't matter where it originated from, or if a few people don't like it. It doesn't make it right, for us, but it just happens to be like this.

But we don't, en masse. It was literally only that specific culture of people, who are defined as centering around another country's culture.

I understand the point you're trying to make, about the semantics of how this word came to be chosen for the dictionary, but it doesn't make the apparent process any less fallacious.

And on a personal note, I am just entirely against anything from fanwank countercultures becoming something official. It slightly narrows the arguments people can throw at them legitimately, since it has technically sanctioned the usage of the iconic weeaboo word-of-the-day.