Noun: "(fandom slang) a fictional character from non-live-action visual media (typically an anime, manga, or video game) that one is attracted to and/or considers a significant other"
2008 October 30, Galen, “Re: Japanese launch campaign to marry comic book characters”, in rec.arts.manga[1] (Usenet):
So long as I get to claim my virtual waifu and our 30 virtual children as tax deductions, I don't really care if I can't touch her.
2009 December 31, Dave Watson, “Re: K-ON! 2nd season announced”, in rec.arts.anime.misc[2] (Usenet):
Seriously, it was fun, but here's hoping that they lay off some of the bits that got old real quick, like Mio getting scared easily. I would not like to have someone that timid as "mai waifu" (as if I'd marry a bloody high school girl anyway). Makes me wonder what that says about the otaku who worship her.
2010 March 26, Untergrundkoenig [username], “Re: 49 Spring Anime -- full previews, w/staff, cast, story, images, trailers”, in rec.arts.anime.misc[3] (Usenet):
Ritsu is my Waifu *_*
2012, Dani Cavallaro, Kyoto Animation: A Critical Study and Filmography, McFarland & Company (2012), →ISBN, page 126:
Bradley Meek's portrayal of Lucky☆Star's protagonist is particularly worthy of notice in assessing the anime's take on the art-play dyad: “Konata Izumi is a high school otaku hardcore enough to know trivia about seventies giant robot and tokusatsu shows,” the critic proposes, “but not hardcore enough to own a bodypillow of her waifu [a 2D significant other]. […]
She is my waifu because she is my absolute favorite gaming character of all time and is the most fun I have ever had playing in a fighting game.
2017, Chengyan Zeng, "Living in Virtual Reality: Anime and Manga Fandom", in Exploring the Rise of Fandom in Contemporary Consumer Culture (ed. Chenglu Wang), page 249:
Different from others, the waifu and the husbando are dedicated to only one character.
2018, Pilan Scruggs, "Obsessive Anime Fan Claims Waifu as Dependent, Goes Unnoticed by IRS", The MQ (satirical newspaper of the University of California San Diego), 14 March 2018, page 5:
"We should get along, and I would love to help others out so that they can claim their waifus and husbandos on their returns for this period."
2019, Dale Beren, It Came from Something Awful: How a Toxic Troll Army Accidentally Memed Donald Trump Into Office, unnumbered page:
For example, the otaku had popularized body pillows, a human-size pillow imprinted with the image of one's waifu (“wife”) or husbando (“husband”), the anime girl or boy to which the otaku imagines he or she is married.
2021, Courtney N. Plante, Stephen Reysen, & Thomas R. Brooks, CAPE: A Multidimensional Model of Fan Interest, page 191:
For example, about 30% of anime fans report having waifu or husbando—that is, they consider (sometimes jokingly, sometimes not) an anime character to be their wife or husband […]
2021, Stephen Reysen, Courtney N. Plante, Daniel Chadborn, Sharon E. Roberts, & Kathleen C. Gerbasi, Transported to Another World: The Psychology of Anime Fans, unnumbered page:
Those with waifus or husbandos are also more likely to feel a greater sense of belongingness to the anime fandom, a fandom which they're also more likely to consider to be unique compared to other fandoms.
