Do you know the definition of hentai? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on the word hentai, including its meaning, usage, and more!
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Kevin
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June 20, 2021
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Common Questions
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What does the word hentai mean?
According to Kotaku, Urban Dictionary, and Definitions, the word hentai is a sub-genre of Japanese manga and anime, which is characterized by very overtly sexualized and often oversexualized characters. The plots of these anime and manga will be explicit as well, and often have graphic images. In Japanese, the word hentai means pervert. The kanji of the word hentai is 変態. The first character, 変, means strange or curious. The second character, 態, means state or condition. Hentai doesn’t always mean pervert, however. Sometimes it can also refer to a metamorphosis or transformation, like a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. In the early 20th century, the term hentai seiyoku, with the kanji 変態性欲, meant sexual perversion. Seiyoku means sexual desire. However, this has been shortened to simply hentai due to the Japanese peoples’ preference of shortening long words. The earliest example is from the year 1931, in which Riichi Yokomitsu, a modernist writer, used the word in reference to collecting womens’ clothing. Thought he word hentai is used to mean metamorphosis, it is not surprising that Franz Kafka’s book The Metamorphosis is called henshin (変身) in Japanese, and not hentai (変態).
If you say that someone has a hentai hobby, or hentaina shumi (変態な趣味), this implies that their sexual desire is abnormal. This word has also become associated with the slang of the Japanese pronunciation of the letter h, ecchi, or エッチ. This was originally used in the Meiji era or Meiji period to refer to the h in the word husband from 1868-1912, but has since come to refer to the h in hentai. By the 1980s, the slang term ecchi suru was used to mean to have sex. While in America and other Wstern cultures, the term hentai is exclusively used to refer to pornographic anime and manga, this is not the case in Japan. Any form of abnormal sex is considered hentai. One less official term for the word hentai is ero manga.
This subgenre of the Japanese genres of manga pornography and anime feature numerous explicit images. This genre of media could include a work of anime that features pornographic art, as well as yaoi, seinen, and yuri that could feature alternate gender pairings, or even some less acceptable pornography including abnnormal sexual desire like incest, pubescent underage girls, rape, or other situationns involving a penis or vagina. Yaoi is an acronym that stands yama nashi, ochi nashi, imi nashi which means “no climax, no point, no meaning”.Some people might assert that cartoons are an acceptable way to release said taboo sexual desires, but others may still find it unacceptable and have negative connotations. A similar medium might be nude art. If someone is planning to watch hentai anime on a computer and wants privacy, they should make sure that the site’s cookie policy is not saving cookies or history.
While most other languages will simply use the word hentai to mean hentai since the origin of the word is Japanese, other languages have slightly altered the term. This list of translations for the word hentai is provided by Word Sense.
- Swedish: hentai
- Finnish: hentai
- Marathi: हेन्ताइ
- Chinese – Mandarin: 變態, 变态 (biàntài)
- Cyrillic: хентај (masc.)
- Uzbek: hentai
- Czech: hentai (masc.)
- Russian: хента́й (masc.)
- Greek: χεντάι
- Turkish: hentai
- Galician: hentai
- Urdu: ہینتائی (hentaī)
- Portuguese: hentai (masc.)
- Indonesian: hentai
- Spanish: hentai (masc.)
- Korean: 헨타이, 변태
- Dutch: hen tai
- Asturian: hentai
- Hungarian: hentai
- German: Hentai (masc.)
- Estonian: hentai
- Polish: hentai (neut.)
- Italian: hentai
- Norwegian: hentai
- Belarusian: хэнта́й (masc.), хента́й (masc.)
- Serbo-Croatian:
- Arabic: هِنْتَاي (masc.)
- Albanian: hentai
- Vietnamese: hentai, biến thái
- Hebrew: הנטאי
- Danish: hentai
- Esperanto: hentajo
- Tagalog: hentai
- Japanese: 変態 (へんたい, hentai), ヘンタイ (hentai), H (etchi), エッチ (etchi)
- Hindi: हेनतई
- Malay: hentai
- Persian: هنتای (hentây)
- Romanian: hentai
- Ukrainian: хента́й (masc.)
- Thai: เฮ็นไต (hen-dtai)
- French: hentai (masc.)
- Bulgarian: хента́й (masc.)
What are examples of hentai?
Oh No Anime and Honey’s Anime list numerous different examples of hentai anime. If you are interested in watching this genre of anime or learning more about anime and manga as a whole, this list of possible suggestions is a great place to start.
- Amakano (2016-2017)
- Tamashii Insert (2017)
- Kyonyuu Hitozuma Onna Kyoushi Saimin (2016)
- Baka Dakedo Chinchin Shaburu no dake wa Jouzu na Chii-chan (2017-)
- Koinaka: Koinaka de Hatsukoi x Nakadashi Sexual Life The Animation (2016)
- Tsumamigui 3 the Animation (Wife Eater 3) (2016-2017)
- Dropout (2016)
- Pretty x Cation the Animation (2016)
- Shoujo Ramune (2016-2018)
- Yokosou! Sukebe Elf no Mori e (2018-)
What are terms used in hentai?
There are many explicit terms that are used in the hentai genre, which are defined below. These are terms that you might see if you are reading hentai or watching hentait be careful not to use these outside of these contexts, as you are likely to offend someone.
- Ahegao – アヘ顔 “O-Face” – This is a slang term for the face a person makes during an orgasm. This will usually be characterized by an open mouth and crossed eyes.
- Nakadashi – 中出し “Creampie” – This refers to a man finishing inside of another person.
- Sotodashi – 外出し “Pulling Out” – This refers to a man finishing outside of a person.
- Bukkake – ぶっかけ – “Smothered” – This refers to a person’s secretions on another person.
- Oshiri/Ketsu – お尻/ケツ – “Butt”
- Futomomo – 太もも – “Thighs”
- Manko – まんこ – “Vagina”
- Chinko – ちんこ – “Penis”
Overall, the word hentai refers to explicit comic books or an animated video that features erotics. In Japanese culture, these forms of manga and anime are considered hentai. This genre of media will feature sexual activity and often abnormal sexual desire. These manga and anime have sexual contexts, and the term hentai is used in Japanese colloquial speech to refer to any strange kinks or sexual fantasies.
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