In Japanese, kemonomimi 獣耳, meaning "beast ears," refers to animal ears worn as accessory by anime characters, or characters that have animal ears as part of their bodies. It's also spelled kemonomimi ケモノ耳, and can be abbreviated to kemomimi ケモミミ.
Meaning
The term kemonomimi ケモノ耳 is a noun compound from kemono ケモノ, "beast," "animal," and mimi 耳, "ear." Consequently, it refers to the ears of the characters, as a feature, and not to the characters themselves.
To refer to the character, you'd say something like:
- kemomimi-musume
ケモミミ娘
Animal-ears girl.- musume
娘
Daughter. (literally.)
- musume
- kemonomimi-musume
獣耳娘 - kemomimi-joshi
ケモミミ女子
Animal-ears girl. - kemonomimi-joshi
獣耳女子 - kemomimi-danshi
ケモミミ男子
Animal-ears boy. - kemonomimi-danshi
獣耳男子
- kemomimi meganekko
ケモ耳メガネっ娘
Furry-ears glasses-girl. - megane
眼鏡
Glasses. (that you wear.)
Types
The term kemonomimi is generic: it applies to any kind sort of animal ears. You can replace kemono by the name of an animal to be more specific.
Note that some animals have features besides the ears, like:
Cat Ears
The most common type of kemonomimi are "cat ears," nekomimi 猫耳.
Anime: New Game!! (Season 2) (Episode 2)
Since most kemonomimi characters end up being cat girls, the term kemonomimi tends to be avoided with them. That is, if a character has cat ears, they're said to have nekomimi, and if they have animal ears of any other sort, they're said to have kemonomimi.
Bunny Ears
To say "bunny ears" in Japanese, the term is usagimimi 兎耳, but it's normally abbreviated to usamimi うさみみ.
Middle: Fujiwara Chika 藤原千花
Right: Shinomiya Kaguya 四宮かぐや
Anime: Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai? ~Tensai-Tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen~ かぐや様は告らせたい?~天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦~ (Season 2) (Episode 3)
- usamimi-musume
うさみみ娘
Bunny-ears girl. Bunny girl. - usagimimi-musume
兎耳娘
The classic bunny suit costume cosplay has its own term:
Right: Asahina Mikuru 朝比奈みくる
Anime: Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱 (Episode 2)
- baani-gaaru
バニーガール
Bunny girl.
Bunny Ear Hands
Sometimes a character makes bunny ears with their hands.
Anime: Photokano, フォトカノ (Episode 1)
- Context: a girl makes bunny ears using peace signs.
- usa-piisu!
うさピース!
Bunny peace!
Dog Ears
The term for "dog ears" in Japanese is inumimi 犬耳.
Anime: New Game!! (Season 2) (Episode 2)
- inumimi-musume
犬耳女子
Dog-ears girl. Dog girl.
Anime: No Game No Life, ノーゲーム・ノーライフ (Episode 5)
- kubiwa
首輪
Collar. (literally "neck ring.") - riido
リード
Leash. (literally "lead.")
Fox Ears
The term for "fox ears" in Japanese is kitsunemimi 狐耳. Such characters tend to be relatively common due to the fox spirits and deities being part of the Japanese culture.
Anime: Spice and Wolf, Ookami to Koushinryou 狼と香辛料 (Episode 5)
- Context: a fox girl getting a head pat.
Anime: SHOW BY ROCK!! Mashumairesh!!, ましゅまいれっしゅ!! (Episode 1)
- Context: a fox girl with fox ears making fox hand signs.
Anime: Sewayaki Kitsune no Senko-san 世話やきキツネの仙狐さん (Episode 2)
- Context: a fox girl using a washing board.
Anime: Inu x Boku SS, 妖狐×僕SS (OVA, Stitch)
- Context: a multi-tailed fox boy with heterochromia.
Anime: Steins;Gate 0 (Special, Stitch)
- Context: Ruka crossdressing as a fox girl.
- onnanoko-zuwari
女の子座り
Girl's sitting. A term for W sitting.
Wolf Ears
The term for "wolf ears" in Japanese is ookamimimi 狼耳.
Right: "Village Girl," Mura-musume 村娘
Manga: Kemono Michi けものみち (Episode 8)
- Context: Shigure makes a money gesture.
Cow Ears
The term for "cow ears" in Japanese is ushimimi 牛耳.
Anime: New Game!! (Season 2) (Episode 2)
- ushimimi-musume
牛耳娘
Cow-ears girl. Cow girl.
Feather Ears
Albeit rare, some bird-like characters have feathery ears. The term for this would be hanemimi 羽耳, "feather ears."
Anime: Maoujou de Oyasumi 魔王城でおやすみ (Episode 5)
- Context: Harpy has feathery ears, wings, and talons that she hides using overly long sleeves (moe-sode 萌え袖).
Pointy Ears
Pointy, human-like ears aren't called kemonomimi, they have their own terms:
Slime: Rimuru リムル
Anime: Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken, 転生したらスライムだった件 (Episode 4)
- Context: elves.
- erufu-mimi
エルフ耳
Elf ears.
Background: Carrera Marker カレラ・マーカー
Anime: Karin かりん (Episode 5)
- Context: "vampires," kyuuketsuki 吸血鬼.
- akuma-mimi
悪魔耳
Demon ears.
Two Pairs of Ears
Some characters have two pairs of ears, one pair of human, or human-like ears, and one pair of kemomimi, and that kemomimi isn't a headband, but actually part of their bodies. See yotsumimi 四つ耳, "four ears," for more information.
Anime: Mairimashita! Iruma-kun 魔入りました!入間くん (Episode 10)
No comments: