Tuesday, March 26, 2019

"Virgin" in Japanese

WIP : this article is incomplete and might change in the unforeseeable future.
There are various ways to say "virgin" in Japanese, unlike English.

First, the word shojo 処女 means a "virgin" woman. This sounds like shoujo 少女, "girl," which, confusingly, is also romanized shōjo, but note the difference: shojo しょじょ, versus shoujo/shōjo しょうじょ, and the relaxed pronunciation shōjo/shoojo しょーじょ.

The word doutei 童貞 means just "virgin." It's technically a gender-less word. However, since there's a word that refers specifically to virgin women, shojo, the word doutei ends up being normally used toward virgin men. Just like nikushokukei 肉食系 and soushokukei 草食系. It's also relaxed dōtē どーてー, and spelled with letters as DT,
  • shojo to doutei 処女と童貞
    Virgins and virgins. (female and male.)

The prefix hi- 非~, "non-," can be used to say someone is not a virgin:
  • hishojo 非処女
     Non-virgin woman. A woman who's not virgin.
  • hidoutei 非童貞
    Non-virgin person. A person who's not virgin.
    Non-virgin man. A man who's not virgin.

Since these words are nouns, you can turn them into no-adjectives:
  • shojo no hito 処女の
    A person [who's] a (female) virgin.
  • doutei no hito 童貞の人
    A person [who's] a virgin.
    A person [who's] a (male) virgin.

Like in English, virginity can be treated as a thing you can lose or protect:
  • shojo wo ushinau 処女を失う
    doutei wo ushinau 童貞を失う
    To lose [one's] virginity.
    • Also "to lose a virgin/virgins." But that's unlikely.
  • shojo wo mamoru 処女を守る
    doutei wo mamoru 童貞を守る
    To protect [one's] virginity.
    • To preserve [one's] chastity.
    • Unlikely, but also "to protect a virgin" or a bunch of virgin, like from some evil being that demands virgin sacrifices or he'll destroy the village, or something like that.

It can also be "given." But people only say this about shojo for some reason, not doutei.
  • suki na hito ni shojo wo ageru
    好きな人に処女を上げる
    To give [your] virginity to the person [you] like.

Note that this isn't the same thing as:
  • shojo wo sashi-dasu
    処女を差し出す
    To offer [one's] virginity.
    To offer a virgin woman.
    • Like, in exchange for something. In a deal. Like with some evil being that demands virgin sacrifices or he'll destroy the village, or something like that.

Some expressions:
  • shojo wo sotsugyou suru 処女を卒業する
    doutei wo sotsugyou suru 童貞を卒業する
    To graduate virginity.
    • As in, to graduate from doutei to hidoutei.
    • And yes it's "graduation" just like school:
    • gakkou wo sotsugyou suru
      学校を卒業する
      To graduate school.
  • fude wo orosu 筆を下ろす
    To lower a brush. (literally.)
    • Like a writing brush, painting brush.
    • Lowering it in order to use it, to draw on the canvas below.
    • So using the brush.
    • Except this phrase specifically means to use the brush for the first time.
    • Which's why it also means to use something for the first time.
    • To do something for the first time.
    • To have sex for the first time.
    • fude-oroshi 筆下ろし
      Lowering a brush.
      Using a brush for the first time.
      Losing one's virginity.

Other words that may appear in context:
  • keiken 経験
    Experience. (as in, sexual experience.)
    • mikeiken 未経験
      No experience yet.
  • hajimete 初めて
    First time.
  • taiken 体験
    Body experience. Experiencing something by yourself, with your own body.
  • hatsutaiken 初体験
    shotaiken 初体験
    First experience.
  • mada まだ
    Still. Yet.
    • mada shojo まだ処女
      mada doutei まだ童貞
      Still a virgin.

The word cherii booi チェリーボーイ, or cherī bōi, a katakanization of "cherry boy" in English, is a slang to refer to a virgin man. It's uncertain whether this is a wasei-eigo 和製英語 or not. Indeed, "popping a cheery," is an English phrase meaning a virgin woman losing their virginity, but it isn't used to refer to a virgin man like "cherry boy" is.

The word otome 乙女, "maiden," doesn't mean "virgin," but it usually means a virgin "maiden." In the sense of a pure "maiden." Similarly, miko 巫女 is a "shrine maiden," which's probably a virgin for religious reasons.

Similarly, the word otaku オタク doesn't mean "virgin," but probably refers to a virgin, that's virgin because of his religion. Conversely, a riajuu リア充 is likely the opposite.

The word ikenie 生贄, "sacrifice," doesn't mean "virgin," but generally, in manga, anime and games, when you have a evil being wanting sacrifices or else he will destroy the village, or something like that, the sacrifice must be a virgin.

The word ekisutora baajin エキストラバージン means "extra virgin," but, like, olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil. I mean, of course, it doesn't make sense for a person to be extra virgin, right? Like how can you be more virgin than simple virgin? Is it like, extra lives in Mario, like if you lose your virginity once, you're still virgin, because you're extra virgin, so you have an extra virginity you can lose before you're left with no virginity at all? Anyway.

The word mahou-tsukai 魔法使い means a "magic user," which can be a 30 year old virgin, because of a certain internet legend that if you're still a virgin at 30 years old you become a wizard.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Leave your komento コメント in this posuto ポスト of this burogu ブログ with your questions about Japanese, doubts or whatever!

All comments are moderated and won't show up until approved. Spam, links to illegal websites, and inappropriate content won't be published.