Alright, let’s dig into a word that’s a bit old and a bit new. A word with a distinct meaning that we can use with some real gusto. That word is keshikaran and today we’re going to delve into it’s modern meaning, its past, and everything in between.
To start off, let’s lay a foundation with a simple bit of definition….
The Meaning of Keshikaran in Japanese
Keshikaran (けしからん) is an expression that says something is outrageous, scandalous, or rude. As an exclamation, it means you are angry. Its modern, internet usage has changed significantly to mean something is exceedingly cute or sexy.
How keshikaran is written
Keshikaran, as with most Japanese words, can be written four different ways. First, there’s romaji, which is just how we’ve been representing it so far: keshikaran.
The next two relate to what could be called the Japanese alphabet (really the Japanese syllabary), and would be written as けしからん in hiragana, or ケシカラン in katakana.
The most common choice is to write is in hiragana!
Finally, there’s the option to write it with kanji as 怪しからん.
This may seem to over complicate things, but in reality it offers us another avenue by which to examine the meaning of this word.
The character of keshikaran
When using kanji, we get to see the character 怪 at the front. This offers us some decent context to pull from later.
怪 is a phono-semantic character (a character containing clues to both pronunciation and meaning). The first half, 忄, is a suuuuper stylized way to write the character for heart, 心.
The other half is the phonetic component, 圣, but I won’t go into it because it doesn’t give us any useful information here.
The semantic aspect tells us right away that we’re dealing with a character that has to do with feelings or thoughts.
And, indeed, this character by itself denoted weirdness, strangeness, or oddity. It can also refer to blame.
You’ll see this character show up frequently. Some fun words you’ll find it in are 怪物 (kaibutsu, monster), 妖怪 (yokai, ghost), and 怪我 (kega, injury).
Another kanji option for keshikaran
Alternatively, we can write keshikaran as 異しからん.
異 is a pretty interesting character that started out as a pure ideogram.
That is, a character that’s basically just a drawing of a thing (e.g. 木 > tree; 山 > mountain; 火 > fire).
In this case, we’re looking at a man in a mask. Something very strange—hence the meaning of the character: strange or bizarre.
Origin of keshikaran
Keshikaran comes from the joining of a few things and then a general mutation.
First, we have the imperfective form of the adjective 怪し which becomes keshikara.
To this is tacked on zu, which is a sort of suffix that denotes negation. This gave us the original form, keshikarazu.
The zu was replaced with nu, another, older way to negate instead of zu. This “nu” usage also seems to imply a stronger negation, in fact.
This addition on “nu” isn’t necessarily grammatical, and was added sort of accidentally in a fit of anger during its original usage.
My Japanese isn’t exactly at the scholarly level, so I’m not sure how true this is, but it’s pretty interesting if it is.
Either way, this all might seem like a bit of a contradiction. After all, isn’t negating the word for “strange” mean that it’s not strange?
Well, from an English perspective, yes. But in Japanese it actually just emphasizes the strangeness here.
So, we’re talking really strange. Stranger than strange.
Due to the mutations, you may also see keshikaran written in two other ways, either keshiin or keshikaranu.
How keshikaran is used
Keshikaran’s original meaning is that something is very disgraceful, shameful, or outrageous.
It’s beyond the pale.
Exceedingly beyond the normal.
Furthermore, as the word developed over time it began to express these feelings in an angry way (as opposed to just being a passive observation as it was used originally).
That’s how it used to be used, and still may be seen or heard nowadays, especially from older men. It’s been a great way to blame or scold someone.
However, in a modern context it’s mostly found its way into internet speak. When viewing a really attractive person, or a super cute animal, it’s a way to say, “It’s tooooooo cute/sexy!”
All that said, you’ll still see it in its original meaning in media, like manga, particularly as a way to say, “I’m angry (at this outrageousness).”
Adding on: urayamashi
Urayamashi by itself means “envious” or “jealous” (yes, I know those are distinct ideas in English [thank you Homer Simpson], but they’re conflated in this Japanese word).
This word itself is a mashup of “ura” and “yamu”, which is basically “inside one’s heart” and “to be taken sick,” respectively.
So, in its base, original meaning, it illustrates the sensation of feeling sickened by the fortune of another person.
Nowadays, it’s just a way to convey your envy.
However, you can combine this with keshikaran to make urayamashi-keshikaran.
In this case we combine the meanings and blend them. This word creates the sense that you shouldn’t long for something (because it’s so keshikaran, of course!), but you just can’t help it.
Just like keshikaran, urayamashi-keshikaran mostly finds itself being used in modern, internet-based situations to remark upon the especially sexy or cute.
Some example sentences with keshikaran
求古会員もこれは怪しからんと言い出した。
Motome ko kaiin mo kore wa keshikaran to iidashita.
The members of Kyuko also criticized it.
会議に遅れるとはけしからん.
Kaigi ni okureru to-wa keshikaran.
Running late to the meeting is inexcusable.
人の女房をじろじろみるとはじつにけしからん.
hito-no-nyobo o jirojiro-miru to-wa jitsu ni keshikaran.
He is very rude staring at my wife like that.
最近の若いものはけしからん。
Saikin-no-wakai-mono wa kashikaran.
Recently the youth are rude.
こんなくだらないことに多額の金を支払うとはけしからん。
Konna kudaranai-koto ni tagaku-no-kin o shiharau to-wa keshikaran.
It’s criminal to pay so much money for such trifles.
彼はけしからん。
Kare wa keshikaran.
He’s despicable.
けしからん事件だ。
Keshikaran shigoto da.
It’s an intolerable job.
今日もかっこいいな！けしからん <3
Kyo mo kakkoii-na! Keshikaran <3
Today’s cool too! SOO CUTEEEE
“I’ve lived in Japan on-and-off for the last five years, travelling to (almost) every corner of the Land of the Rising sun. I’ve deepened my love of the language with big hauls from Sapporo book stores, by chatting in Shinjuku coffee shops, drinking in Osaka “snack bars,” exploring distant Okinawan islands, and hitching rides with monks in Aomori. Japanese is a wide and deep language, and I’m always eager to dive in deeper.”