In short (pun intended), the word started life as tsubi 粒び, a noun meaning “little, rounded thing”. It was officially replaced with modern spoken Japanese in the years after World War II. Eventually, writers started using a written language closer to modern spoken Japanese, and classical Japanese went out of style. It was still commonly used for literary writing and official documents in Japan into the twentieth century. It was based on what was then spoken Japanese. So the word can carry the association of being a bit sad and miserable.” Ancient originsĭespite being considered a slang word, the word actually comes from classical Japanese.Ĭlassical Japanese, or kobun (old writing), is the literary form of the language that developed during the Heian period (794–1185). That said, it comes from the verb chibiru, meaning “to wear away”, like with heels or pencils. They named their group Chibi-chans, and we all laughed – but not unkindly. By coincidence, one group was made up of the shortest girls in the class. I remember, when I was in secondary school, we had to do a group dance performance as part of a PE lesson. It can be endearing when treating smallness as a positive, but if it’s used in a negative way, then it’ll be offensive. “It’s a word that describes someone (or something) small. Looking for a deep dive? Here’s the long answer: Chibi in context: wise words from our resident Japanese expert If you’re not ready to get into the nitty-gritty of chibi, why not go straight to learning more Japanese words? You can learn Japanese 4x faster using Busuu’s award-winning, complete online Japanese course. However, like calling someone “short stuff”, “stubby” or “tiny”, it can be insulting, so it should really be reserved for close friends… and they still might not like it. It can be used to refer to things, animals and people. You’ll see it in phrases and verbs – chibi chibi, for example, means ‘bit by bit’, like how one sips a beer that they’re nursing, or wears down an eraser with rubbing. In daily use outside of anime, however, the word has a somewhat negative connotation, because it comes from the word for wearing down a pencil or calligraphy brush. This is a positive association for the word. In anime and manga, it refers specifically to caricatures of popular characters (also called “SD” or “Super Deformed”), where they’re made to look short and cute, with large heads and simplified, exaggerated features. It’s most commonly used when talking to or about children, but has a wide variety of applications and can be insulting if used in the wrong context. In general conversation, chibi is casual slang for short or little, and implies cuteness. In this article, you’ll learn what chibi means, where it came from, and why you probably shouldn’t call your bosses chibi, no matter how short and cute they might be. Wondering about the meaning of the Japanese word chibi?
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