A New Slang, 宅

A New Slang, 宅

Recently, a slang “宅” has been used everywhere in Taiwan. You can hear the word in conversations, read it on the Internet or in newspapers. “宅” is used as a prefix and become a new slang. Speaking of “宅”, most people will associate it with the following image: People like to play online games and surf the Internet. They are obsessed with animations, comic books and video games. They spend the whole day immersing themselves totally in their favorite digital world so they seldom step out of their homes. If they need to go out, that is the day on which some new comic books, video games or animation DVDs are released, or they have to update their computers’ hardware and buy some new software to make the computers run faster and more smoothly. They are often sloppy with oversize T-shirt and dark sweatpants even slippers, and then rush direct to a computer shopping mall to get “spiritual food”. Because of their terrible clothing, people think that they are very untidy. Also, they rarely interact with others so they do not have good relationship. We call them 宅男, 宅女, 阿宅 or 宅宅. They always sit before a screen, click a mouse button and type words to indulge in their interests.


Generally speaking, the word “宅” is transformed from the Japanese word “御宅,”(おたく, otaku) which is derived from a Japanese term for “another’s house or family”. Also, otaku is used as an honorific second-person pronoun. In Japan, otaku’s original meaning is a term used to refer to people with fanatical interests. For example, 軍事おたく(military geeks), 鉄道おたく(railfans). They are avid fans of any particular theme, topic, or hobby. Then, the word otaku is change to describe people with interests especially in animations, comic books and video games. Of course, they know comic books’ plot and games’ tips very well. So far, otaku in Japanese is not what we consider in Chinese. It is much like the loan-word “マニア” (mania). They are really crazy about their interests. However, there is one kind of otaku called “アキバ系,”(akiba-kei) which is more similar to the meaning of 宅 in Taiwan. Akiba-kei originates from 秋葉原(Akihabara) in Tokyo. Akihabara is an area which is famous for its electronic, computers, animations, comic books and video games products supplement so it attracts many otaku. They are mainly obsessed with animations idols and games so their need to computer and peripheral is larger than others. Moreover, they do not care about how they look because their interests are the most important things in the world. The thought of sloppy clothes and needs to computers is same as 宅.

The popular expression of the slang, 宅 in Taiwan is originated from the television series “電車男”(Densha Otoko). The story is about an akiba-kei otaku pursues a pretty office lady. Many people talked over the plot on PPT BBS and clipped 御宅 into 宅(taku) to describe the leading man’s behavior. Later, to adjust to Taiwanese culture, taku has developed several different meanings. Here are two words that displays Taiwanese transformation of taku: soft taku(軟宅) and hard taku(硬宅). “Soft taku” means people who indulge in animations, comic books and video games and “hard taku” in computer hardware and skills. Moreover, taku implies people with Internet addiction disorder (IAD). They put too much time and energy into the digital world. They can be ascetic monks when they are playing games, keep worshiping the computer without rest, eating, sleeping and even urinating. The development and coinage of taku in Taiwanese has been different from otaku in Japanese.

Besides that, in Chinese, the synonym of 宅(chai) is 家(home or house). Then, it is another different meaning from otaku. “I chai at home all the day,” “I am so chai.” They both mean that I did not go out and just stayed at home surfing the Internet, watching television or doing things all the day. Chai no longer contains IDA and obsession with interests but matches Chinese meaning of chai, home. It is similar to “homebody” because of some reasons, like laziness, chai people do not like to go out. Their home can supply all their needs so it is needless to go out. Moreover, with the high development of the Internet, it is easy to get much information, especially shopping, and you can buy everything from underwear to food on online shopping websites. The sellers will deliver the goods to your house so purchasing online at home is very convenient. It does decrease the times they step out of home and increase the time they spend at home and enjoy themselves.

From the origin in Japanese to the reinvention in the Taiwanese language, 宅 is given two new meanings-- people with IAD and homebodies. In Taiwan, 宅 is an outcome of the Internet mania. Nevertheless, with the popularity of the Internet, 宅 is ready to influence people in the whole world.