Word
otaku
/oʊˈtɑku/
Definition
n. a person who is very interested in a particular hobby, especially Japanese animation, comics, or video games. While it started as a word for fans who stay inside too much, many people now use it to show they are proud of their hobbies.
n. a person with an obsessive interest in a particular hobby or subculture, most commonly associated with anime, manga, and gaming. Originally pejorative in Japanese context, the term has been reclaimed by international fan communities as a neutral or positive self-identifier.
Examples
“He is a total otaku who spends all his money on anime figures.”
“The convention center was filled with thousands of otakus dressed as their favorite characters from recent manga series.”
“Sociologists have studied the otaku phenomenon to understand how digital subcultures provide a sense of belonging and identity in increasingly atomized urban environments.”
Examples
simple
“He is a total otaku who spends all his money on anime figures.”
contextual
“The convention center was filled with thousands of otakus dressed as their favorite characters from recent manga series.”
complex
“Sociologists have studied the otaku phenomenon to understand how digital subcultures provide a sense of belonging and identity in increasingly atomized urban environments.”
Usage
Often used as a loanword from Japanese; can be used as a noun or as a modifier before another noun.
Real-World Examples
“Y ou might say that Vincent van Gogh was one of the first Japanese pop-culture otaku (geeks) in Europe.” Etymology
From Japanese otaku, originally used in reference to the 1982 Macross fandom, from the honorific otaku ("you"), itself from the honorific taku ("home") — literally "your home".
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Domains
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/otaku