姉貴, Aneki - Meaning in Japanese

In Japanese, the word aneki means "older sister," just like oneesan お姉さん, although sometimes it can be used to refer to an older woman who's not really the speaker's sister, but whom they respect.

• Kanji
• Usage

Kanji

The word aneki written with kanji is aneki 姉貴. It's written with ane 姉, which too means "older sister," and ki 貴, which has a meaning of esteem, also found in the word kisama 貴様, which used to be a word of esteem. Written without kanji:

• aneki あねき (hiragana)
• aneki アネキ (katakana)

Usage

Generally speaking, aneki is a casual word that refers to one's older sister with both intimacy and respect. That is, it's like the word "pal" in English, except used toward older women, older girls. In a sense, it's also similar to the word aneue 姉上.

Most of the time it refers to one's real older sister. Biological, or maybe adopted. But sometimes it can refer to a girl whom the speaker respects and considers to be like an older sister to them. That may imply the speaker would rely on her for stuff for example because she takes care of them..

The male counterpart of aneki 姉貴 would be aniki 兄貴. Note that, unlike aneki, aniki is sometimes used toward gang members.