What does “seinen” mean in Japanese?
There are some homophones, but native speakers say “seinen” normally to mean ‘young man’ in Japanese. Perhaps, some Japanese learners know this word as it is used in Japanese movies, novels, manga, anime, and the like. In this blog post, however, I will explain this word in detail based on its kanji expression. And also, I will explain how to use it through example sentences. My explanations would help Japanese learners to understand “seinen” more clearly. Then, let’s get started!
Contents
Definition and meaning of “seinen”
Let me start with the definition and meaning of “seinen”.
- seinen – 青年 (せいねん) : a noun meaning ‘young man’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural. Learn more about Japanese plural.
Japanese native speakers use this noun normally to refer to young men in formal or business situations. Actually, people in marketing, advertising, or other business fields often use this noun to refer to a young age group of men.
The definition and meaning are simple and clear, I think. To understand this noun more clearly, however, let me explain its kanji characters in detail, one by one.
Seinen in kanji
The kanji expression of “seinen” consists of the following two kanji characters:
- 青 : a kanji character widely used to mean ‘blue’ in Japanese.
- 年 : a kanji character widely used to mean ‘age’ or ‘year’ in Japanese.
These two kanji characters tell us that “seinen” literally means ‘blue age’ in Japanese. This literal interpretation does not seem to be in line with the meaning. Native speakers, however, often say “aoi” to describe young people. The word they use is an i-adjective meaning ‘blue’ in Japanese. So, we can understand that the above two kanji characters mean “young age”. It’s also worth mentioning here that theoretically “seinen” can refer to young people including women. In reality, native speakers use it mainly to refer to young men.
When we meet new kanji expressions, we should check their kanji characters in detail to understand their meanings clearly and deeply. In many cases, kanji characters tell us a lot about the meanings of the expressions they form. Actually, here, we could get the better understanding of “seinen” through the detailed kanji check above.
So far, I’ve explained the definition and meaning of “seinen” together with its kanji characters. Then, let me explain how to use it through the example sentences below.
Example #1: how to say “young man” in Japanese
boku wa mada seinen desu – 僕はまだ青年です (ぼくはまだせいねんです)
I’m still a young man.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- boku – 僕 (ぼく) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese. This is used mainly by boys and young males.
- wa – は : a binding particle working as a case marker or topic marker. In the example, this works after “boku” to make the subject in the sentence.
- mada – まだ : an adverb meaning ‘still’ or such in Japanese.
- desu – です : an auxiliary verb used after a verb, adjective, or auxiliary verb to make it polite. Probably, this is well known as a part of the Japanese desu form. In the example, this is used after “seinen” to make it sound polite.
This is a typical usage of “seinen”. In this example, it works as the complement in the sentence and means ‘young man’ in Japanese.
Example #2: another usage of “seinen”
watashi tachi wa seinen manga ga totemo suki desu – 私達は青年漫画がとても好きです (わたしたちはせいねんまんががとてもすきです)
We love seinen manga so much.
Below are the new words used in the example sentence.
- watashi – 私 (わたし) : a pronoun meaning ‘I’ in Japanese.
- tachi – 達 (たち) : a suffix used after a noun or pronoun to make its plural form. In the example, this is used after “watashi” to make its plural form, “watashi tachi”, which means ‘we’ in Japanese.
- manga – 漫画 (まんが) : a noun meaning ‘manga’ in Japanese.
- ga – が : a case particle used to make the subject word or the object word in a sentence. In the example, this is used after “seinen manga” to make the object in the sentence.
- totemo – とても : an adverb of degree meaning ‘very’, ‘much’, ‘so’, or such in Japanese. In the example, this works before “suki” to emphasize its meaning.
- suki – 好き (すき) : the stem part of the na-adjective, “sukina”, which means ‘favorite’ in Japanese. Native speakers, however, often use this as an individual word to mean ‘to like’ or ‘to love’. In the example, actually, this is used to mean ‘to love’ in Japanese.
This is another typical usage of “seinen”. In this example, it works as a part of the longer noun, “seinen manga”. This noun is famous today as one category of the Japanese manga, I think. It just means ‘manga for young men’ in Japanese, though.
Summary
In this blog post, I’ve explained the definition and meaning of “seinen” in detail based on its kanji expression. And also, I’ve explained how to use it through the example sentences. Let me summarize them as follows.
- seinen – 青年 (せいねん) : a noun meaning ‘young man’ in Japanese. This can also work as plural. These two kanji characters literally mean ‘blue age’ in Japanese. This literal interpretation does not seem to be in line with the meaning. Native speakers, however, often say “aoi” to describe young people. The word they use is an i-adjective meaning ‘blue’ in Japanese. So, we can understand that the kanji characters mean “young age”. It’s also worth mentioning here that theoretically this noun can refer to young people including women. In reality, native speakers use it mainly to refer to young men.
Hope my explanations are understandable and helpful for Japanese learners.