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yaoi

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yaoi¹

  • /ˈjaʊ̯.i/
  • /ˈjɑ.ɔɪ̯/

Rhymes with -aʊi, -ɑɔɪ

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Japanese やおい (yaoi), an acronym of 山(やま)無(な)し (yama nashi, “no climax”), 落(お)ち無(な)し (ochi nashi, “no point”), and 意味(いみ)無(な)し (imi nashi, “no meaning”), originally mocking those who criticised early yaoi works for being too focused on sex scenes instead of storylines.

noun yaoi · yaois

  1. Japanese, countable, especially, uncountable A narrative or visual work featuring a romantic or sexual relationship between two or more men.
  2. Japanese, countable, uncountable A form of hentai involving two or more men in a gay relationship. I have a ton of gay porn, actually. He knows. I'm a major yaoi freak. But only if it's manga and anime. Because I'm just a pervert like that.

Similar: BL, shounen ai

Yaoi²

Where it comes from

From Japanese 矢追 (Yaoi).

proper noun

  1. A surname from Japanese.

Thesaurus

noun

Similar: BL, shounen ai

Translations

Every language

noun narrative involving men in a gay relationship

Españolyaoi
한국어야오이 yaoi
日本語やおい yaoi
中文耽美 dānměi
हिन्दीयाओइ yāoi
Portuguêsyaoi
Françaisyaoi
DeutschYaoi
Italianoyaoi
Русскийяо́й jaój
العربيةيَاوِي yāwī
עבריתיאוי

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MLA

"yaoi." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/yaoi. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

yaoi. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/yaoi

Chicago

"yaoi." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/yaoi.

BibTeX
@misc{yaoi_2026,
  title = {yaoi},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/yaoi},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}