Yaoi

//ˈjaʊ.i// name, noun

name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A narrative or visual work featuring a romantic or sexual relationship between two or more men. Japanese, countable, especially, uncountable
  2. 2
    A form of hentai involving two or more men in a gay relationship. Japanese, countable, uncountable

    "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."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname from Japanese.

Synonyms

All synonyms
blshounen ai

Example

More examples

"Mary is the author of a very famous yaoi manga."

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

From Japanese 矢追 (Yaoi).

Related phrases

old man yaoiyaoi handyaoi holeshoujo aishounen ai

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.