Otaku

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /əʊˈtɑːkuː/

Definitions

1. A fan who exhibits a profound passion for aspects of Japanese culture such as animated series, comics, and interactive entertainment
2. An individual with a strong enthusiasm towards Japanese art forms, primarily focusing on animation, graphic novels, and digital games
3. A person who displays an intense fondness for Japanese pop culture, especially in the realms of animation, manga, and gaming

Etymology: The Japanese word "otaku" started life as a polite way of saying "you." Its base is "taku," meaning "home," and the honorific prefix "o-" turned it into "お宅," a courteous term for someone else's house or family. Speakers used it to address one another formally, so calling a person "otaku" was like saying "your honourable home," a roundabout respect for the person themselves. The word took on its modern sense in the early 1980s. Fans of the Macross anime series, which premiered in 1982, were said to address each other this way, and the stiff formality became a joke about their social habits. Fans who were absorbed in their hobbies and shy in conversation were teased as people who spoke in this stilted, distant manner, and the label "otaku" was used for them as a term of mockery, meaning something like "geek" or "nerd." Over the following decades the label lost much of its sting in Japan, and in English it is now used for enthusiasts of Japanese animation, comics, and games. Some fans reclaim it with pride, though it can still carry a faint edge of social awkwardness in its original Japanese context.