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Parts of the Body

(shintai kanren)

In Japanese there are many derogatory words related to parts of the body. We'll start with the face.

Busu and buotoko mean, respectively, ugly woman and ugly man. Busu is most derogatory when it is applied to a young woman, and can be regarded as a discriminatory term. One of the largest bookstores in Japan, Kinokuniya, was found guilty of discrimination in a trial held some time ago. The management had apparently set standards of appearance in employing young women. Those considered busu (ugly), those wearing megane (glasses), and those labeled chibi (a derogatory term for a very small person) were not hired.

Busutto shita or busutto shite iru mean to look sullen or sulky, and this may be the etymology of busu.

Okame and hyottoko are a pair of synonyms for busu and buotoko, but they are now rather archaic. You can understand the looks they signify if you've ever had the chance to see the masks used in okagura, sacred Shinto dancing. The female variety has a tiny nose, small narrow slits for eyes, a high forehead, and large round cheeks. Her male counterpart has big, round, stupid-looking eyes and a very protruding mouth. These masks are believed to symbolize the genital organs of the respective sexes, the mouth being the vagina, the nose the clitoris, and the cheeks the testicles. If this seems curious, remember that the Shinto religion celebrates all aspects of life, and many of its ceremonies—the renowned phallic festival, for example—are blatantly sexual.

Okame originally comes from the term otafuku (ugly woman). The kanji for this word mean full of happiness, presumably because a man who marries an ugly woman need have little fear of her infidelity.

During the New Year season, the Japanese play a variety of traditional games. Among them is fuku-warai, which is somewhat like pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. In fuku-warai, the player is supposed to arrange the parts of the okame face with his or her eyes closed. If the player does well, this assures good fortune in the coming year. Okachimenko, a derivative of okame, is frequently used today as a synonym for busu.

Bukiryō, or busaiku, and fubijin are other rather formal terms for ugly persons. The former can be applied to both sexes; the latter literally means not beautiful person and is applied only to women. Bu-and fu-in this case are prefixes meaning un-as in unattractive. Kiryo means face or personal beauty, and saiku is fine work or ware. Close synonyms are minikui hito (ugly-looking person), hen-na kaō (odd or grotesque face), and the slangy mazui tsura (plain or bad-looking face). Tsura is a vulgar synonym for kaō (face).

The worst expression for an ugly woman, though, is obake (monster). This term and the stronger bakemono (goblin or monster) are often used in a derogatory and critical sense for women who put on too much make-up (atsu-geshō) or who have had cosmetic surgery (seikei shujutsu) with bad results.

Oiwa-scm is the name of a famous obake character in kabuki theater who is ultimately poisoned by her own husband. She appears on stage as a hideous monster; thus the term oiwa-san can be extremely insulting to a woman.

Daburu hatto is a rather odd slang expression often used by students. It refers to a woman who looks great from behind, but, when an admirer catches up sufficiently to see her face, finds she's really quite ugly. Hatto is a mimetic word meaning a surprise, and daburu hatto means doubly surprised. A synonym for this is bakku shan. Bakku comes from the English back and shan from the German schon, meaning a beauty or a belle.

Nafutahn comes from napthalene, the chemical in mothballs that repels moths and other insects. The abbreviated nafu means a really ugly girl.

While we're on the subject of insects, we might mention that the idiomatic expression mushi ga tsuku (an insect catches on a flower or tree) means for a woman to have a lover. Its negative form mushi mo tsukanai (even an insect wouldn't alight), means hopelessly unattractive.

A particularly graphic term that can be applied to a very ugly person, either male or female, is chinkusha. The chin here refers to a Pekingese dog, with its funny face—the eyes, nose, and mouth all seeming to come together in the middle. Kusha is short for kushami (sneeze). Just imagine what a Pekingese dog looks like sneezing and you'll get the idea of the type of person to which chinkusha refers.

Abata-zura and kabocha-zura are used to mean a pockmarked or pitted face. Abata is literally a pockmark or pit, while kabocha is a pumpkin. Zura is a euphonic change of tsura, or face. Nikibi-zura is used to describe a face covered with pimples, nikibi being pimples. Sobakasu are freckles in Japanese, and, when a person is heavily freckled, he can be described as sobakasu-yaro or sobakasu-darake.-Darake is a derogatory suffix meaning full of or covered with. In the West, a moderate amount of freckles is often regarded as cute, or at least aesthetically acceptable, but the Japanese seem to have an aversion to them.

Shiwa-darake or shiwakucha are used to refer to a very wrinkled individual. Shiwa is a wrinkle, line, or furrow, and kucha is an onomatopoetic device for the sound that accompanies crumpling or wrinkling. Thus, shiwakucha babā is a commonly heard derogatory term for a heavily wrinkled old lady. Small wrinkles are called kojiwa, ko-being a prefix meaning small, and jiwa a euphonic change of shiwa. Kojiwa are also called, more elegantly, karasu no ashiato (crows' tracks), equivalent to crows' feet in English. Whether they are called kojiwa or karasu no ashiato, they are particularly dreaded by middle-aged women the world over.

Hige-zura (bearded face), hige-darake (covered with a beard), and higeyarō (bearded fellow) are all derogatory terms for a bearded person. Until recently most Japanese didn't grow beards, and people who did so were thought of as odd and somehow dirty. Thus, there are a number of derogatory terms for such individuals.

Hige is a general term for the beard, or the hairs that grow around the mouth (kuchi), cheeks (hoho), and jaw (ago). Kuchihige, then, is a mustache, hohohige is whiskers, and agohige is a beard. Sideburns are called momiage from the verb momiageru (to massage up), the action required when attempting to shave them off.

Nowadays, though, beards are becoming more popular among young Japanese. Such young men are called members of the hige-zoku (beard tribe or beard gang). This tendency reveals a change in social customs and the influence of foreign fashions.

Schick, an American manufacturer of razor blades, now sponsors a yearly beard contest in Japan and reports that the number of applicants has been growing steadily through the 80s and into the 90s. Japanese companies, too, may be taking a slightly more tolerant attitude towards employees who grow beards.

Uma-zura (horse-faced), geta (Japanese square wooden clogs), and rakkyō (shallot) are used to describe a face that tapers toward the chin.

As for the head as a whole, atama dekkachi (from atama meaning head and dekai meaning huge) refers to a person whose head is too large for his body. It also implies a person who has lots of book learning but no common sense. When someone says atama dekkachi shiri subori (or subomari), it means something that starts with a bang but ends with a whimper.

Tongari atama (tongari means sharply pointed) or biriken atama (biriken comes from Billiken—an American "happy god" with a sharply-pointed head created by a female artist in the early 20th century), both mean pointed head. Zeppeki (atama) refers to a person whose head is flat in the back, usually as a result of the traditional Japanese custom of laying infants on their backs. The Japanese traditionally fear laying babies on their stomachs. Fortunately, this fear is gradually coming to be understood as unfounded, and we see fewer and fewer cases of zeppeki atama these days. Zeppeki here means cliff.

Hage or hage atama are derogatory terms for bald men, hage being the word for bald. Hage has a number of variations, such as hage chabin (totally bald like a teapot), tsuruppage (entirely bald), zenippage (literally, coin bald; figuratively, bald in spots), jarippage (literally, gravel bald; likewise, bald in spots), and hage choro or usuppage (both meaning baldish). Choro actually means the state of sneaking or flitting about, as in shimi choro (a slip which occasionally shows). Teka-teka (bright), pika-pika (shining), and tsuru-tsuru (slippery) are additional terms used to describe bald people. Bōzu is a derogatory term both for bald people and for Buddhist monks, who usually shave their heads. O-bo-san, which uses the two honorifics o-and-san, is the accepted term for a monk. Taiwan bōzu (Taiwan monk) is a derogatory expression for someone with enkei datsumo-sho (a round patch of baldness). Hage and bōzu can refer to a sexually vigorous male as well, though.

Today, due to the variety of available wigs, hage people don't suffer as much as in the past. One of the biggest makers of wigs in Japan is a company called Aderansu, so the word has been adopted as a synonym for wig.

Even people lucky enough to have hair growing on their heads can become the target of ridicule with terms such as shiraga (gray hair), wakajiraga (prematurely gray), and gomashio atama (sesame-salt head), which is equivalent to the English salt-and-pepper.

Akage means red-head or carrot top. It has become less effective as an insult due to the popularity of an animated TV series entitled Akage no Ann, based on the book Anne of Green Gables. In fact, many Japanese young people nowadays dye their hair a great variety of shades of red.

Moving to the eyes, demekin, a somewhat exotic species of goldfish with round, protruding eyes, as well as deme, a derivative of this word, can be used for a pop-eyed or goggle-eyed person. Ano hito wa demekin means that guy's got bug eyes. When you want to convey the same meaning more politely and indirectly, you can say instead kare wa me ga chotto dete iru (his eyes protrude a little).

Chikame (chika is near, and me is eye or eyeball), or kingan, which is an alternate way of pronouncing the same characters, refer to near-sighted or short-sighted persons. Do-kingan is more derogatory. Kingan comes from kinshi (myopia or short-sightedness) and gan (eye). The expression kinshigan-teki is used as an adjective to describe a short-sighted viewpoint on something.

Yabunirami, shashi, and yorime all refer to cross-eyed persons. Yabunirami and shashi refer to a person with one eye in the correct position and the other either looking excessively outward or inward. Yorime is the condition of both eyes looking inward, toward the nose. As for shashi, sha is slant and shi is the direction of the eyes. The origin of yabunirami is more obscure. Yabu means growing willy-nilly in all directions, and nirami means staring or glaring. Yabunirami can also be used to refer to a twisted viewpoint on something.

Ronpari is an amusing variation. It comes from the ron in London (as it is rendered in Japanese) and the pari in Paris, and implies one eye on London, the other on Paris; in other words, both eyes positioned outward.

Donguri-manako means goggle-eyed, donguri being acorn and manako being eyeball. Gyoro-me is a synonym; gyoro is a mimetic expression for glaring. Kitsuneme describes a person with narrow, slanting eyes; kitsune means fox in Japanese.

As for the ears, tsubureta mimi (literally, destroyed ear) is rendered into English as cauliflower ear. Mimidare is a runny ear. The-dare here comes from the verb tareru, which means to run down, ooze, or fall in drops. Fukumimi (literally, happy ears) is used to describe someone who has big ears, especially when the lobes are thick. People with big, thick earlobes, it is said, will be blessed with good luck and wealth.

Dangoppana and shishippana refer to a snub or pug nose. Dango is a kind of dumpling and shishi is lion.-Ppana is a euphonic change of hana, or nose. Butappana is a pig nose. In Japan, there are quite a number of hanapecha (flat-nosed people) who keep the pockets of the nation's plastic surgeons full of crisp, new yen notes. Pecha comes from pechanko, a mimetic expression which means the state of being crushed or smashed.

Hana ga hikui is a low or flat nose, in contrast to hana ga takai, which means either a long nose or to be proud of something. Japanese people often speak admiringly of Western noses, describing them as hana ga takai.

Washippana or kagippana (Roman or hooked nose) are rarely seen among the Japanese. In these expressions washi means eagle and kagi is hook.

Hana no shita literally means under the nose. When hana no shita ga nagai (long under the nose) is said of a man, it means he is somewhat foolishly amorous or lecherous. Bikachō has exactly the same kanji characters and meaning, but uses the pronunciations bi instead of hana, ka instead of shita, and cho instead of nagai.

Dekai kuchi, ōki-na kuchi, and ō-guchi are all derogatory expressions used to describe a person with a large mouth. Dekai is a colloquial term for big. Traditionally, a small mouth was considered more acceptable in Japan than a large one; thus these derogatory expressions for big mouths. When you say dekai kuchi o tataku or kiku, it means to talk big.

Mitsukuchi (three mouths) refers to a harelipped person. Ukeguchi (receiving mouth) describes a person with a protruding lower lip. Kaō, one of the largest manufacturers of soap in Japan, has as its trademark a crescent-shaped face with an ukeguchi. Thus people use the expression kaō sekken (sekken is soap) as a synonym for ukeguchi. Deppa (protruding teeth) means buck-toothed.

Still in the mouth, shitatarazu is used to mean a person who easily becomes tongue-tied or a person who lisps. Shitatarazu also means lacking sufficient explanation.

Moving down to the shoulders (kata), there are two types of expressions: ikari-gata and nade-gata. The former literally means angry shoulders, but is used colloquially to signify someone who is, in fact, square-shouldered.

The term nade-gata, from the verb naderu (to stroke), means drooping or sloping shoulders and is used in reference to an attractive, elegant woman.

Moving to the back, nekoze means round-shouldered or a stooped or bent back. This comes from an association with the round back of a cat (neko). Nekoze de megane (glasses) is a caricatured description of a typical hunched, bespectacled Japanese. When the stoop is very pronounced, the word semushi (humpback or hunch-back) is used, though this term is now regarded as discriminatory.

As mentioned earlier, debeso is a protruding belly button. This term comes from the expression heso (navel) ga dete iru (is protruding). Hesomagari or o-hesomagari (crooked or twisted belly button) means perverse or obstinate, or people with these traits.

After the face, it is the hands (te) that are usually the most visible part of one's anatomy. Not surprisingly, then, there are a good number of Japanese terms used to describe and make fun of the hands. Tenagazaru originally meant a gibbon or long-armed ape, and is now used derogatorily to refer to a long-armed person. Te in Japanese, incidentally, includes both hands and arms, as ashi is both feet and legs.

Futoi ude and its slang variations buttoi ude and marutanbo (log) refer to big, brawny arms. Physically slender arms are hosoi ude, but the slightly altered hosoude (literally, thin arms) refers to a woman's management of a shop or company. Corresponding terms for big hands are gotsui te, kumade, and gurobu. Gotsui is rough and thick, kumade is literally bear hand, and gurobu is baseball glove.

In a world dominated by right-handedness (migi-kiki), the left-handed minority (hidari-kiki) is sometimes the object of scorn and contempt. Gitcho (lefty) is a slang expression for a left-hander. Interestingly, gitcho is an abbreviated form of hidari-gitcho, the original form of which is hidari-giyō. Kiyō and its euphonic change giyō mean skillful hand.

In Japan, being left-handed has traditionally had at least one advantage. Lefties have generally been thought of as skillful at handicrafts. A sculptor who lived in the early Edo era and left many masterpieces, including the "Sleeping Cat" relief in Nikko, was given the name Jingoro Hidari.

For most of history, though, hidari has usually been thought of as symbolizing something bad or unfortunate, and migi just the opposite. The same is true of sinister and dexter in Latin. From the former, meaning left, derives the English word sinister with its connotations of misfortune and evil. Dexterity, which comes from the Latin for right, means handiness, skillfulness, and cleverness.

Though not directly related to a part of the body, hidari-mae (literally, left in front) means adversity, decline, or a business that has gone the wrong way. Ano ie wa hidari-mae ni natta means that family is going out of business.

This expression comes from the custom of wearing a kimono for one's last journey, (i.e., to the grave), hidarimae (left side over right side). This is a little confusing because, when the kimono is put on in hidari-mae fashion, it is done from the point of view of the living who put the kimono on the dead. Migi-mae, with the right side in front (left to the onlooker), is the one and only way for the living to wear their kimono. Dress with care.

Hidari-maki (counter-clockwise) colloquially means a screwball. A person with a counter-clockwise cowlick on his head is considered nutty or eccentric.

A derogatory expression often used to describe the skin (hada) is samehada (shark skin). Like other cultures, the Japanese value smooth and compact skin very highly. Torihada (literally, chicken skin) means gooseflesh. A common synonym is zara-zara or butsu-butsu shita hada, as in kanojo wa bijin da kedo hada ga zara-zara da (she may be a beauty, but she has rough skin). You may also simply say hada ga kitanai (dirty) or hada ga arete iru (chapped). Chapped skin is also known as hada-are or arehada.

Although it is not as highly prized in Japan as it used to be, a traditional beauty always has white, translucent skin. Thus, the proverb iro no shiroi wa shichi nan kakusu means, literally, that white skin can hide many faults, or a fair complexion compensates for other poor features. Correspondingly, asaguroi hada (guroi is black) is something most darker Japanese wish they didn't have. This prejudice comes from the old days when only farmers and other menial workers spent long hours in the sun. The mark of the leisure class, who could spend its days indoors in intellectual, artistic, and amorous pursuits, was very pale skin.

Here we move on to ashi (feet or legs). Long, slim, shapely legs are much admired in Japan, despite, or, possibly on account of, their rarity. Ashi ga mijikai (he has short legs) or mijikai ashi (short legs) are ordinary expressions. But tansoku, an alternative reading for mijikai ashi, is much more a term of ridicule for someone with stumpy legs.

Dōnaga-tansoku literally means long-waisted, short-legged, and is a typical insult for fat, middle-aged men in Japan. A more amusing synonym is dakkusufunto (dachshund).

Daikon-ashi (radish legs) can be aptly translated as piano legs, and is commonly applied to women with thick, definitionless legs. Futoi ashi is a common way of describing fat legs. Ganimata means bowlegged. Ganimata comes from kani mata, kani being crab, and mata being crotch or thigh.

It's interesting to note that the Japanese language originally did not have voiced sounds at the beginning of its words. Later people began to add voiced sounds to word beginnings in order to emphasize derogatory or indelicate meanings. This explains a change such as kani to gani. Ganimata sounds really awful to the Japanese ear; therefore, it's appropriate only when someone wants to be really disparaging.

Ganimata, or bowleggedness, is said to be the result of mothers putting excessively thick diapers on their babies. Uchimata, on the other hand, means pigeon-toed or knock-kneed. One sees quite a few pigeon-toed women in Japan, perhaps because of the country's long custom of wearing kimono, in which one must walk with short, mincing steps.

Another expression, wani-ashi, can be used to describe a person who is either bowlegged (soto-wani) or knock-kneed (uchi-wani). Soto means outward, and uchi is inward. Wani is alligator or crocodile.

The phrase kōdaka banbiro is used to describe the typically wide, high-instepped foot of the Japanese. Kōdaka means high instep or high back, and banbiro is wide feet. Such feet are thought to have developed from wearing traditional geta (wooden clogs), which do not constrict the feet in any fashion. But this expression is going out of use as geta are rarely seen nowadays.

In speaking of one's body shape as a whole, there are any number of amusing Japanese terms. Noppo (tall, gangly fellow), seitaka noppo (stilts or lampost), and kirin (giraffe) are all humorous ways of referring to a very tall person. Udo no taiboku is a near synonym. Udo is a Japanese plant similar to asparagus, and taiboku is a big tree. The stalk part of udo is edible when it's young, but after it grows to six feet or so in height, it becomes inedible. This phrase, then, means something like a big boob, someone who's big but useless.

Chibi or the more slangy chibikō are used to describe a very small person. When applied to children, these terms mean tot or kid, and the term chibikko is now commonly used when referring to children in a collective sense. Chibita is only used for male children.

The nouns chinchikurin and chinchikurin yaro describe a person who is small both physically and mentally (a pipsqueak or squirt). A more slangy adjective for these two nouns is chinke-na. Chinke-na onna means a short, unattractive, or awkward girl or woman.

Kobito, which is not to be confused with koibito (lover), is a dwarf, as in Shichinin no Kobito (The Seven Dwarfs).

Totchanbōya comes from ototchan (slang for father or grown male) and bōya (boy), and means a short, physically mature—but mentally immature—man.

Even more than people who are short or tall, those who are excessively thin or fat are likely objects of ridicule. Here are some words used to describe such people.

Yase or yaseppochi, which come from yaseta hito (thin person), is slang for someone who is very skinny. O-yase-san is a more ladylike expression. Gari or garitcho mean skin and bones, with gari being an onomatopoetic device for the sound of biting or scratching. Gari-gari ni yaseta describes an extremely skinny person. Honekawa sujiemon, which sounds like a person's name, also means skin and bones. Its components are hone (bone), kawa (skin), and suji (tendon). The-emon is added to make it sound like an old-fashioned male name. Finally, the envy of many of us are yase no o-gurai (slim people who eat all they want).

Gaikotsu refers to a skeleton. Japanese sometimes make a pun on this term and the word gaikokujin (foreigner), creating the expression gaikotsujin to describe a tall, skinny, funny-looking foreigner. Two other expressions for skinny people are hyoro or hyoro-hyoro (beanpole) and moyashi (bean sprout). Hyoro or hyorohyoro refer to a person who is tall and lanky almost to the point of being unsteady, like certain varieties of water birds. Moyashi describes an immature, skinny person. Rōsoku (candle) is simply someone who is tall and thin.

Debu (fat person or the state of being fat) is the most common all-embracing slang term used to describe fat people. Debu-chan, with the diminutive suffix, implies some degree of affection when applied to roly-poly children or young people.

O-debu (san) is mainly used for young women, and debuchin or debutcho for men. Fatty, fatso, or butterball would be English equivalents. Debu-debu (a ton of lard) is appropriate when one wants to emphasize merely the fact that a person is fat. Hyakkan debu might also be translated as a ton of lard. Hyakkan is 100 kan, kan being an old Japanese unit of weight equalling approximately 3,750 grams, or a little more than eight pounds. Konishiki, a sumo wrestler from Hawaii who weighs in at over 200 kilograms or 440 pounds, is regarded as hyakkan debu. Akebono, also from the U.S. and a sumo grand champion, is not called debu because he's relatively tall.

Deppuri is an adjective that can be applied to a stout, yet rather wealthy, gentleman, as in deppuri shita shinshi (portly gentleman) or deppuri futotta hito (portly person). Futotta is an adjective formed from the verb futoru (to become fat).

Maru-maru shita (round and full) is an expression commonly used when commenting on a chubby or rolypoly baby. Marupocha (cutie) describes a short, plump, but nevertheless charming young girl. Pocha comes from the mimetic adjective potchari (plump yet attractive). Another expression making use of this term is pochapochatto shita ii onna, the ii onna in this case being a very appealing woman. When this woman gets a little older, however, she might be described with the adjective kobutori (dumpy). Ko-is a prefix meaning small or little, and butori is a euphonic change of futori (fat).

Zunguri (shita) or the stronger zunguri mukkuri (shita), both mimetic expressions, are commonly applied to people who are short and fat and, at the same time, somewhat unattractive. Pudgy, stumpy, or tubby would be among the many English translations. Gasshiri shita (solidly built) would be well-built, stout, or sturdy.

Futome is a rather fashionable word these days.-Me is a suffix implying a little bit or rather. Hosome, for example, means rather thin, and katame, rather hard. Futome is a more gracious term than debu. If you say kanojo wa debu, it sounds as if you are just being nasty, but chotto futome is closer to pleasingly plump. Futome can also be used to describe animals.

Speaking of animals, butanko and tonko for women and bu-chan for men are other close synonyms of debu. Buta is pig, and bū-bū is the sound a pig makes, similar to oink oink in English. Bū-bū iu means to constantly complain. Ton is an alternative pronunciation of the same character for pig. Tonko is most often used to describe an unattractive young woman, while bu-chan is an affectionate expression often used in nicknames for men.

Hara or onaka (belly) ga dete iru (swelling out) is the most commonly accepted expression for paunchiness. Some slang variations are biya-daru (beer barrel) and zundo (thick trunk). Kono goro hara ga detchatta (I've recently started growing a paunch) is a commonly heard lament among middle-aged men. Sandan-bara (literally, triply undulated fat belly), on the other hand, is greatly dreaded by middle-aged women.

A word of caution: when you say ōki-na onaka about a woman it means she's pregnant, as in kanojo wa onaka ga ōkii or ōki-na onaka o shite iru. Slang variations for this are boteren and botebara. Another tricky expression to watch for is hara ga futoi (literally, fat stomach) or futoppara in reference to a man. This means he's broadminded.

Dekai o-shiri and the abbreviated detchiri (big backside), as well as the more slangy dekkai ketsu (big butt), are popular derogatory terms applied to women. In Japanese, shiri or o-shiri (literally, latter or hind end), and ketsu (hole) all mean butt, hips, or ass. Ketsu also implies anus.

Koshi means waist and hips. Japanese people favor yanagi-goshi (a willow-tree shaped waist or slender figure); this shape is perceived as being most attractive in the bulky, traditional kimono. Hatomune desshiri or simply hatomune (both meaning pigeon's chest or big breasts) tends to throw the elegant shape of the kimono out of proportion.

Tareta o-shiri (hanging butt or droopy ass) is another bane of middle-aged women. The noun form for this is tare-jiri.

There are many idiomatic expressions using shiri. They include shih-uma (blind imitation), shiri-kire (abrupt ending), shiri-nuke (leaving something half-done), and shiri-nugui (literally, wiping another's ass; figuratively, paying a debt on another's behalf).

Now that we can insult almost any kind of person's appearance, this might be an appropriate spot to introduce some complementary (and complimentary) words of praise.

Bijo refers to a good-looking woman, and bidan, or bidanshi, a handsome man. Bidanshi is often pronounced binanshi or simply binan. Bi means beauty. Bijin (literally, beautiful person) is used only to refer to women. Beppin is a synonym for bijin, implying elegant beauty. Kanojo wa sugoi beppin da can be translated as she's a real knockout. Adjectives such as utsukushii and kirei, both meaning beautiful or pretty, have traditionally been used only in reference to women. But with the advent of the feminist movement, they are now occasionally used in decribing a man. Otokomae, on the other hand, can only be used when speaking of a man, as in kare wa otokomae (he's a handsome man).

A very popular expression used to describe a beautiful person is ii onna or ii otoko. Ii is the colloquial form of the adjective yoi (good, beautiful, fine). Nowadays one rarely hears yoi in common conversations: it's ii tenki rather than yoi tenki, for example. Ii onna implies many things, but most commonly it describes a mature, attractive, and independent woman. Kanojo wa boku no ii onna, however, means she's my lover. Ii hito can also mean lover or steady partner, as in watashi no ii hito (my boyfriend). When you want to ask someone if he or she has a girl (or boy) friend, a rather nice way of putting it is (dareka) ii hito iru no?

An expression used to praise a good-looking woman is hatto suru hodo ii onna. Hatto suru is an intransitive verb meaning to be suprised or given a start. Hodo indicates degree or comparison. So the expression roughly means a suprisingly gorgeous woman.

Me (eye) no sameru (to awake) yō-na bijin is a woman of dazzling beauty. In the same vein, iki (breath) o nomu (to drink or inhale) yō-na bijin can be almost directly translated as a breathtaking beauty. Japanese often add the adverb omowazu (unconsciously) before iki o nomu to indicate that the person's breath has been taken away without his even being aware of it.

Nimai-me is a traditional expression that is still used for a handsome man. Nimai-me (literally, the second ranked) originally came from kabuki. When a play was being performed, the names of the main actors would be displayed on the marquee outside the theater. The name of the biggest star would always be followed by that of a handsome young actor. This tradition still lingers in the film and theatrical worlds today. Sanmai-me (the third ranked), according to this system, is a fun-loving character. So, when one says nimai-me han (han means half), it means a man who falls between nimai-me and sanmaime, a man who is both handsome and fun-loving.