In Japanese, furigana 振り仮名 is a text written next to a certain character, word, or phrase, that shows how you're supposed to read it. It's also called "ruby text," rubi ルビ (the opposite being base text), or "reading aid," although it also has some non-reading-aid, creative uses.
For example: 今日日（きょうび） shows the word kyoubi 今日日, "these days," "in modern times," which has kanji 漢字 characters. Inside parentheses is the furigana: k-yo-u-bi きょうび, showing how the word is read using hiragana ひらがな characters.
In Japanese, chigau 違う means literally "to differ," but it's typically used to say someone got something "wrong," to say it "is different" from what they said, to deny what someone said, i.e. to say "no" in Japanese.
In Japanese, shitsurei 失礼 means "impolite," in the sense someone has done something impolite, but it can also mean "excuse me," in the sense you've done or are about to do something that may be impolite. (e.g. enter a room, leave a room, etc.)
In Japanese, irasshai いらっしゃい, meaning literally "come," is an expression used to welcome someone in a house or establishment. It's an abbreviation of irasshaimase いらっしゃいませ.
To welcome someone in a new place or group, youkoso ようこそ is used instead, and to welcome someone back home, okaeri おかえり is used instead.
In Japanese, ittekimasu 行ってきます, meaning literally "to go and come back," is an expression used to say goodbye by someone leaving home to go school, work, etc. Whoever remains home bids farewell saying itterasshai 行ってらっしゃい.
When the person returns, they say tadaima ただいま, and are greeted by okaeri おかえり.
In Japanese, itterasshai いってらっしゃい, meaning literally "go and come back," is an expression used when saying goodbye to someone leaving home to go to school, work, etc., specially after the person leaving says itte-kimasu 行ってきます.
When they return, they'd say tadaima ただいま, to be greeted with okaeri おかえり.
It's also spelled 行ってらっしゃい.
In Japanese, nya にゃ, nyan にゃん, or nyaa にゃー (also spelled にゃあ and にゃぁ), or "nyah," are onomatopoeia that mean "meow," the sound that cats make. That is, in order to say "meow" in Japanese, one of those words are used.
They can also be spelled with katakana, as ニャ, ニャン, ニャー, ニャア, and ニャァ. And there are other variants, too, like myaa みゃー.
In Japanese, kanojo 彼女 means "she," "her," a female third person pronoun, or "girlfriend."
It's the female counterpart of kare 彼, "he," "him," "boyfriend."
In Japanese, kare 彼 means either "he," "him," a male third person pronoun, or "boyfriend," kareshi 彼氏.
It's the male counterpart of kanojo 彼女, "she," "her," "girlfriend."
In the manga and anime Naruto ナルト, ninjutsu 忍術, taijutsu 体術, and genjutsu 幻術 (also romanized ninjitsu, taijitsu, genjitsu) are similar-sounding terms referring to how the ninjas fight. In this article, I'll explain what they mean in Japanese.
The "third person pronouns" in Japanese, san'ninshou daimeishi 三人称代名詞, are a bit complicated.
The words kare 彼 and kanojo 彼女 mean "he" and "she," respectively, but they also mean "boyfriend" and "girlfriend," respectively.
There's no "it" pronoun in Japanese.
Often, someone is referred to in third person neutrally, by the noun phrase "that person," ano hito あの人, ano ko あの子, or aitsu あいつ. Sometimes, by yatsu やつ, which refers to an individual person or thing.
Japanese is a pronoun dropping language, which means there are sentences you'd use "he" or "she" in English that you wouldn't use a pronoun in Japanese.
In Japanese, hito, nin, jin, ~bito, ~ri, ~to 人 are different readings of a same kanji, and the meaning of that kanji is "person," so hito, nin, jin, etc. all mean "person" in one way or another. In this article, I'll explain the differences between them and how they're used.
(don't mistake 人 with 入火六大犬水氷木本夫矢天来美奏欒爨, none of which have anything to do with it.)
In Japanese, usui hon 薄い本, meaning literally "thin book," is an anime slang that refers to a doujinshi 同人誌, often, but not necessarily, a doujinshi featuring adult content, i.e. hentai 変態.
In Japanese, doujinshi 同人誌 means a "fanzine," an indie manga 漫画, which may or may not be a derivative work, a parody featuring characters whose copyright is owned by someone else. It's also romanized dōjinshi, dojinshi, douzinsi, dōzinsi, or dozinsi.
In Japanese, doujin 同人, meaning literally "same people," refers to people who have the same hobby as you. In anime and manga, doujin refers to indie manga, anime, games, etc., and their creation, as opposed to mainstream works.
The word doujin is also romanized douzin, dōjin, or dōzin.
In Japanese, manga 漫画 means "comics," as in drawings with speech balloons, it doesn't matter if the comics are Japanese, Korean, American, etc. In English, manga refers only to Japanese comics or artwork in the manga style. The word is also spelled まんが, マンガ.
In Japanese, koitsu, soitsu, aitsu, doitsu こいつ, そいつ, あいつ, どいつ mean "this one," "that one (near you)," "that one (far from us)," "which one?" They're kosoado words that refer to individual items, and, sometimes, to people.
These words have nothing to do with itsu 何時, which means "when," or itsuka 何時か, "sometime."
In Japanese, kou, sou, aa, dou こう, そう, ああ, どう mean "this manner," "that manner (near you)," "that manner (far from us)," and "what manner?" They're kosoado words referring to manner.
In Japanese, konna, sonna, anna, donna こんな, そんな, あんな, どんな mean "like this [thing]," "like that [thing] (near you)," "like that [thing] (far from us)," and "like what [thing]?" They're kosoado words referring to how things are, or the appearance of things.
In Japanese, kocchi, socchi, acchi, docchi こっち, そっち, あっち, どっち mean "this way (toward me)," "that way (toward you)," "that way (away from us)," and "what way?" respectively. They're kosoado words related to direction, but they can also refer to sides, choices, and people.
The words kochira, sochira, achira, dochira こちら, そちら, あちら, どちら work the same way in some cases, but they're considered to be more polite.
In Japanese, kono, sono, ano, dono この, その, あの, どの mean "this," "that," and "what." They're kosoado words very much like kore, sore, are, dore これ, それ, あれ, どれ, except they're used as adjectives instead of as nouns.
The words sono その and ano あの are also interjections. The word dono どの after someone's name is the honorific dono 殿.
In Japanese, kore, sore, are, dore これ, それ, あれ, どれ mean "this thing (near me)," "that thing (near you)," "that thing (away from us)," and "what thing?" They're kosoado words that refer to things in general.
Sometimes, are? あれ？ is an interjection of doubt: "huh?"
In Japanese, kochira, sochira, achira, dochira こちら, そちら, あちら, どちら mean "this way (toward me)," "that way (toward you)," "that way (away from us)," and "what way?" respectively. They're kosoado words related to direction, but they can also refer to sides, choices, and people.
The words kocchi, socchi, acchi, docchi こっち, そっち, あっち, どっち are abbreviations of kochira, sochira, achira, dochira. They're used the same way in some cases, but they aren't considered as polite.
In Japanese, konata, sonata, anata, donata こなた, そなた, あなた, どなた are kosoado words related to direction, and then to person. They're a bit odd, because donata means "who," anata あなた is one of the various way to say "you" in Japanese, and the rest is archaic.
In various ways, they're similar to the words kochira, sochira, achira and dochira.
In Japanese, koko, soko, asoko, doko ここ, そこ, あそこ, どこ mean "here," "there (near you)," "over there (not near you)," and "where?" They are kosoado words related to place.
In manga and anime, a cat boy is a character that has cat-like features, such as feline body parts—"cat ears," nekomimi 猫耳, "cat eyes," nekome 猫目, "cat mouth," nekoguchi 猫口, and a "cat tail," neko-shippo 猫しっぽ—and ending their sentences in nyaa にゃー, "meow."
In manga and anime, a cat girl is a character that has cat-like features, such as feline body parts—"cat ears," nekomimi 猫耳, "cat eyes," nekome 猫目, "cat mouth," nekoguchi 猫口, and a "cat tail," neko-shippo 猫しっぽ—and ending their sentences in nyaa にゃー, "meow."
In Japanese, nekomimi 猫耳 means "cat ears," and can refer to an actual cat's ears, to the cat ears of a cat girl or cat boy character, to cat ear headbands used to cosplay as a cat girl or cat boy character, or to other things that resemble cat ears, but technically are not. It's also spelled without kanji, as nekomimi ネコミミ.
In Japanese, tadaima ただいま, meaning literally "just now," is an expression used by someone who has returned home, from work, school, etc. It means basically "I'm back," "I'm home."
The answer to this greeting would be okaeri おかえり, or okaerinasai おかえりなさい. When leaving home, itte-kimasu 行ってきます and itte-rasshai 行ってらっしゃい.
In Japanese, okaeri おかえり, meaning literally "return," is an expression used when welcoming someone back home from school, work, etc., specially after the person coming back home says tadaima ただいま. Longer variants include okaerinasai おかえりなさい, okaerinasaimase おかえりなさいませ, okaerinasaimashi おかえりなさいまし. They're also spelled お帰り, お帰りなさい, お帰りなさいませ, お帰りなさいまし.
When leaving home, ittekimasu 行ってきます and itterashai 行ってらっしゃい are used instead.
In Japanese, fujoshi 腐女子, meaning literally "rotten girl," refers to a girl that fantasizes about guys being in a homosexual relationship with other guys, specially shipping male characters with other male characters in manga and anime, writing gay fanfics, drawing gay doujinshi 同人誌, and fan art featuring them, and enjoying gay genres called BL (Boys' Love) and yaoi やおい / 801.
