bishonen

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See also: bishōnen

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Japanese 美少年 (bishōnen びしょうねん), from Middle Chinese (mˠiɪX, beautiful) + 少年 (ɕiᴇuH nen, teenaged boy) (compare Mandarin 少年 (shàonián)).

Noun

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bishonen (uncountable)

  1. An Asian aesthetic of young men whose beauty (and sex appeal) transcends the boundary of gender or sexual orientation, found in manga, etc.
    • 2001 May 22, Wednesday, “Re: 'There are only 500 REAL anime fans in the UK'”, in uk.media.animation.anime[1] (Usenet), message-ID <-6y*A5OWo@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>:
      Incidentally, I'm not sure you're bucking the trend so much as going along with it; FTM crossplay is getting pretty popular, although you see more women going for bishounen and visual-kei genderfucky stars than anything else.

Derived terms

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See also

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Anagrams

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