Ecchi Anime Genre
In the western world, ecchi is a genre that's basicallyMost works classified as ecchi aren't about being erotic the same way porn is about being pornographic. Instead, the story of an ecchi manga or anime is usually about something else entirely, that just happens to have a lot of asses, boobs, panty shots, and sometimes nudes plastered all over it.
Definition of Ecchi
In Japan, ecchi has a completely different meaning. You could say it's pretty much the opposite of what we use ecchi for in the west.For starters, the word ecchi is not about anime and manga at all. Obviously, the word ecchi comes from the Japanese language. Fans of anime in the west would hear it only in anime, but the people who live in Japan hear it from the mouth of other, real life people, who speak Japanese. So in Japan ecchi can be used for any real life thing.
Second, ecchi in Japanese usually refers to sex and sexual things, sometimes even hardcore pornography. Its meaning isn't restricted to softcore porn drawings in Japan, it's a lot more broad.
Simple translations of ecchi would be "erotic," "sexual," or "dirty" in the "dirty thoughts" sense. The word ecchi is a slang, so for everything ecchi can mean there's usually a more normal word with same meaning. Also, it's used more by younger people.
Dirty Thoughts, Things & People
People who think "dirty" things or do "dirty" things can be called ecchi. This includes 120% of all high-school harem anime protagonists. The acts and thoughts themselves can also be called ecchi. So, in a way, ecchi can also mean "perverted" or "pervert":- ecchi na koto wo kangaeteiru エッチなことを考えている
[He] is thinking perverted things!
[He] is thinking dirty things! - X-kun wa ecchi! Xくんはエッチ！
X is a perv!
Erotic & Pornographic
For certain things, ecchi can also mean "pornographic."- ecchi na manga エッチな漫画
Dirty manga. Erotic manga. Porn manga. - ecchi na douga エッチな動画
Dirty video. Erotic video. Porn video. - ecchi na shashin エッチな写真
Dirty photos. Erotic photos. Porn photos. - ecchi na saito エッチなサイト
Dirty website. Erotic website. Porn website.
In this sense, a word related to ecchi would be ero エロ, literally from "erotic," which can also mean "porn" in Japanese when used as an adjective.
- ero douga エロ動画
Erotic video. Porn video
Provocative & Slutty
When referring to clothes and people, ecchi エッチ can mean "slutty" or uh... how do you say "slutty" in English without offending someone? *checks dictionary* "Seductive," "alluring," "provocative," "foxy," etc.- ecchi na fuku エッチな服
Slutty clothes. Provocative clothes. Seductive clothes. - ecchi na onna エッチな女
Slutty woman. Provocative woman. Foxy woman.
In this sense, a related word would be eroi エロい, which just means "sexy." A bit sexy.
Literally Sex
Finally, ecchi can refer directly to sex itself. Including having even a verb form for this case.- ecchi エッチ
Sex. - ecchi suru エッチする
To have sex.
To ecchi (literally) - echi wo suru エッチをする
To have sex.
To do the ecchi. (literally)
Do note that there's a word similar to ecchi that's also how you say "sex" and "to have sex" in Japanese.
- sekkusu セックス
Sex. - sekkusu suru セックスする
To have sex.
The difference between ecchi エッチ and sekkusu セックス is that sekkusu, coming from the English "sex," literally and directly refers to sexual intercourse. Meanwhile, ecchi can be making out, petting, etc. on bed. You can pretend it's "to have sex" vs "to make love" or something.
Origin of The Word Ecchi エッチ
The word ecchi エッチ is written with katakana and not with kanji for a very good reason: the word comes from English, not from the Japanese language itself.The English letter H is where the word ecchi comes from. This letter, H, for the non-native English speakers out there that didn't bother learning how the names of individual letters are pronounced in English, is pronounced "aitch." And from that "aitch" was born the Japanese word ecchi.
In other words, ecchi is the katakanization of the name of the letter H. And, sometimes, in a form of zig-zag shenanigans, the letter H in Japanese stands for the word ecchi which came from it.
Also, in case you don't even know this, the poor, innocent letter H doesn't mean anything sexy or sexual in English . It's a Japanese-only meaning. Which means Japanese ecchi is a wasei-eigo 和製英語, and English ecchi is an eisei-wago 英製和語 of a wasei-eigo.
But why H?!?!?!
H & Ecchi
The modern origin of ecchi is said to have come from the word hentai 変態.Basically, and, well, obviously, the word hentai starts with H. Though in Japanese there is no H. You can spell he-n-ta-i as へんたい, but you get a he syllable, two letters, together, not a H alone. Clearly a lot of languagery went on there for the H to come out of hentai, from the romaji, but it eventually did.
So hentai means "perverted" in Japanese, ecchi came to mean dirty, erotic things. That's pretty much it.
It seems that in the past ecchi also had other meanings, all of them derived from the letter H and some word somehow. For example, ecchi used to come from the H of the English word "husband," and it was used by women to talk about sex.
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