doyagao どや顔

In Japanese, doyagao どや顔 refers to someone's facial expression when they're proud of themselves, of their own ability or work. It's generally a smug, triumphant grin of self-satisfaction.

It's also spelled doyagao ドヤ顔.

Character: Yazawa Niko 矢澤にこ
Anime: Love Live! School Idol Project (Episode 10)

• Meaning
• Examples

Meaning

The word doyagao どや顔 is formed by:

1. doya
   どや
   An expression from the Kansai 関西 region of Japan, which translates into standard Japanese as dou da どうだ.
   • dou da
     どうだ
     Literally "how is [it]?" Phrase used to ask someone's opinion on something. Specially when showing them something.
2. kao
   顔
   Face. (~gao is rendaku 連濁)

Basically, since doya is an expression used when you're showing something off to someone, doyagao is a "showing-off face."

• doyaru
  ドヤる
  To make a doyagao. To be smug about your abilities. To look like you're bragging about your skills.
• jiman suru
  自慢する
  To be proud of [something].
• hometemo ii
  褒めてもいい
  [You] may even praise [me].

Manga: 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～ (Chapter 23, 白銀御行は見せつけたい)

• Context: Fujiwara Chika 藤原千花 is proud of her volleyball skills, which amaze Shirogane Miyuki 白銀御行.
• o...... omae ni konna tokugi ga atta towa......!!
  お･･････お前にこんな特技があったとは･･････！！
  [I... I didn't think] that you would have this sort of special skill......!!
• doya sa'
  どやさっ
  [Did you see it?]
• mufufu~~
  むふふー
  *giggle*

It's worth noting that doyagao in Japanese doesn't really mean "smug" in English.

According to a dictionary, smug means "highly self-satisfied." ^{[smug - merriam-webster.com, accessed 2020-03-06]}

From this you would think the term "smug" is pretty close to what doyagao means, but, in practice, it isn't, because "smug" is often used in cases that wouldn't be considered doyagao.

For example, when a character claims to not have any romantic interests, and another character knows that is a lie and smiles knowingly, some people call this smile "smug," but it's not doyagao.

• niyari
  にやり
  *grinning* (phenomime)
  Often used toward suggestive grins.

Examples

For reference, some examples of doyagao どや顔. You'll see that the exact facial expression doesn't really matter. It's more about what the context of the expression.

Character: Yazawa Niko 矢澤にこ
Anime: Love Live! School Idol Project (Episode 10)

• Niko is proud of her cooking skills.

Character: Main マイン
Anime: Honzuki no Gekokujou 本好きの下剋上 (Episode 4)

• Main is proud of her otherworldly cooking skills.

Character: Asuna アスナ
Anime: Sword Art Online (Episode 8)

• Asuna is proud of maxing her cooking skill level.

Character: Kotomura Chino 小人村ちの
Anime: Inu x Boku SS, 妖狐×僕ＳＳ (Episode 7)

• Chino is proud of having won a plant in a supermarket lottery.

Character: Karasuma Chitose 烏丸千歳
Anime: Gi(a)rlish Number, ガーリッシュ ナンバー (Episode 3)

• Chitose is proud of her unbelievable voice-acting talent.

Character: Takanashi Rikka 小鳥遊六花
Anime: Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! 中二病でも恋がしたい！ (Episode 1)

• Rikka is proud of her train-door-opening delusional magical powers.

Character: Kurumizawa Satanichia McDowell 胡桃沢=サタニキア=マクドウェル
Anime: Gabriel DropOut, ガヴリールドロップアウト (Episode 8)

• Satania is proud of her unparalleled physical prowess.

Lastly, doyachichi どや乳, which is doya plus a word that means "breasts," chichi 乳, is used as a tag in illustrations where a character is doyaru'ng with their breasts emphasized somehow.

戦艦　長門

A notably great example of this: the tapioca challenge.

タピオカチャレンジ～

刑部姫タピオカチャレンジ