kakko カッコ

In Japanese, kakko カッコ means either "appearance" or "parenthesis." In the former case, it's also spelled kakko かっこ and found in compound words.

• "Appearance"
  • カッコいい, カッコ悪い
  • カッコつけて
• "Parenthesis"

"Appearance"

To begin with, kakko カッコ can be the abbreviation of kakkou 格好, which means "appearance."

Manga: School Rumble (Chapter 16)

• Context: Tenma devises a plan to confess to Karasuma.
• kokuhaku dai-sakusen ~sono go~
  告白大作戦～その５～
  Great Confession Strategy: 5th [Iteration].
  • sono go その５
    Its five. (i.e. there were other 4 great confession strategies.)
• imeeji wa koto da!
  イメージはことだ
  The impression is [important]!
  • wa koto da
    はことだ
    ...is the thing. Is what matters. Is important.
• kujaku no hane
  くじゃくの羽
  Peafowl feathers.
• doon to butsukaru
  ドーンとぶつかる
  Bump against [with force.]
  • doon ドーン
    Boom. (onomatopoeia, bump against with enough force to make a sound.)
• Karasuma-kun 烏丸くん
  (victim target.)
• kiken na basho
  キケンな場所
  Dangerous place.
  • Plus a drawing of a school.
• gakkou no okujou?
  学校の屋上？
  The school's rooftop?
• ...nanka chigau-n-da-yo-na~~
  ･･･なんか違うんだよな～～
  ...there's something wrong, isn't there~~
  • "Something is different, isn't it?"
  • chigau 違う
    To differ. (e.g. from what's right, therefore "to be wrong.")
• aa mou yameyame!
  あーもうやめやめ！
  Ah! [I give up!]
  • mou もう
    (interjection of frustration.)
  • yameru やめる
    To give up. (×2)
• konna kakko shite
  kokuhaku suru ko nante
  iru wake
  nai jan
  こんなカッコして告白するコなんているわけないじゃん
  [Someone] who [puts on an outfit] like this and goes confess [can't possibly exist, right]?
  • kakko shite カッコして
    kakkou wo shite 格好をして
    "To make it so the appearance is in a way."
    To make one's appearance in a way.
    To put on an outfit. (thereby changing one's appearance.)
• bakabakashii! バカバカしい！
  [This is stupid!]

Kakkoii, Kakkowarui カッコいい, カッコ悪い

The way this kakko カッコ is more frequently used is in the compound words kakkoii カッコいい, which means someone or something looks "cool," "impressive," "admirable," and kakkowarui カッコ悪い which means "lame."

These words are, of course, abbreviations of kakkou-ii 格好良い and kakkou-warui 格好悪い.

Literally, they mean "good-looking" and "bad-looking" respectively, because ii いい means "good" and warui 悪い means "bad."

A word which works similarly is kimochi 気持ち, "feeling," which's part of kimochi-ii 気持ちいい, "feels good," and kimochi-warui 気持ち悪い, "feels bad."

Kakko-tsukete カッコつけて

Another word in which kakko カッコ appears is in kakko-tsukete カッコつけて. This one means "to try to look look," or "to show off."

"Parenthesis"

Lastly, kakko カッコ can also mean "parentheses," kakko 括弧. Specially the round parentheses, （）, maru-kakko 丸括弧, which are used in Japanese internet slangs:

• kakko-warai
  （笑）
  "(laugh)"
  • lol. rofl. lmao. etc.

The verb tojiru 閉じる, "to close," can be used to say the closing parenthesis. The word toji 閉じ, "closing," also works.

• kakko tojiru カッコ閉じる
  kakko toji カッコ閉じ
  Closing parenthesis.

For example:

• kakko warai kakko tojiru
  （笑）
  Parenthesis, laugh, close parenthesis.
• kakko warai kakko toji
  （笑）
  Parenthesis, laugh, parenthesis closing.