waifu
English
Etymology
From Japanese ワイフ (waifu), from English wife. Doublet of wife.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈwaɪ.fuː/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈwaɪ.fu/
Audio (US): (file) - Rhymes: -aɪfuː
Noun
waifu (plural waifu or waifus)
- (fandom slang, Internet slang) A female fictional character from non-live-action visual media (typically an anime, manga, or video game) or non-fictional persona to whom one is romantically attracted and/or whom one considers one's wife.
- Synonyms: see Thesaurus:wife
- Coordinate term: husbando
- 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.
- 2012, Dani Cavallaro, Kyoto Animation: A Critical Study and Filmography, McFarland & Company, published 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]. […]
- 2025 July 16, David Ingram, “Musk's Grok 'companions' include a flirty anime character and an anti-religion panda”, in NBC News[3]:
- “Literally no one asked us to launch waifus, but we did so anyway,” wrote Ebby Amir, whose X account has a label saying he’s an xAI employee.
- For more quotations using this term, see Citations:waifu.
Derived terms
Related terms
- mai (“my”)
Translations
fictional character to whom one is attracted to
Finnish
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwɑi̯fu/, [ˈwɑ̝i̯fu]
- IPA(key): /ˈʋɑi̯fu/, [ˈʋɑ̝i̯fu]
- Rhymes: -ɑifu
- Syllabification(key): wai‧fu
- Hyphenation(key): wai‧fu
Noun
waifu
Declension
| Inflection of waifu (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | waifu | waifut | |
| genitive | waifun | waifujen | |
| partitive | waifua | waifuja | |
| illative | waifuun | waifuihin | |
| singular | plural | ||
| nominative | waifu | waifut | |
| accusative | nom. | waifu | waifut |
| gen. | waifun | ||
| genitive | waifun | waifujen | |
| partitive | waifua | waifuja | |
| inessive | waifussa | waifuissa | |
| elative | waifusta | waifuista | |
| illative | waifuun | waifuihin | |
| adessive | waifulla | waifuilla | |
| ablative | waifulta | waifuilta | |
| allative | waifulle | waifuille | |
| essive | waifuna | waifuina | |
| translative | waifuksi | waifuiksi | |
| abessive | waifutta | waifuitta | |
| instructive | — | waifuin | |
| comitative | See the possessive forms below. | ||
| Possessive forms of waifu (Kotus type 1/valo, no gradation) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Japanese
Romanization
waifu
Portuguese
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English waifu.
Pronunciation
- (Brazil) IPA(key): /ˈwaj.fu/ [ˈwaɪ̯.fu]
- (Portugal) IPA(key): /ˈwaj.fu/
- Hyphenation: wai‧fu
Noun
waifu f (plural waifu or waifus)
Further reading
- “waifu”, in Dicionário inFormal (in Portuguese), 2006–2025
- “waifu” in Enciclopédia Significados (2011).
Spanish
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English waifu.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈwaifu/ [ˈwai̯.fu]
- Rhymes: -aifu
- Syllabification: wai‧fu
Noun
waifu f (plural waifus)