じわる

• 読み: じわる
• ローマ字: jiwaru
• 発音: /dʑi.wa.ɾɯ/

意味

Slowly becoming funny — a delayed, creeping sense of humour that gradually builds until you can't help laughing.

From じわじわ来る (jiwa jiwa kuru, 'it comes gradually'), じわる describes humour that doesn't hit you immediately but sneaks up on you. The joke or image keeps replaying in your mind and becomes funnier each time. It contrasts with explosive 爆笑 laughter — じわる is a slow burn. Very popular on social media when sharing subtly funny content.

例文

1. この動画、最初は普通だったけどだんだんじわってきた。
2. 友達が送ってきた写真がじわるんだけど。
3. あのCMじわるよね、何回見ても笑っちゃう。

使い方ガイド

場面: social media, friends, messaging

トーン: amused, understated, warm

正しい言い方

• この画像じわるから見て。 (This image is a slow-burn funny, look at it.)
• 昨日の出来事、思い出すたびにじわる。 (Every time I remember what happened yesterday, it slowly cracks me up.)

避ける言い方

• 爆笑するほど面白いものに「じわる」は合わない (Don't use じわる for something instantly hilarious — it's specifically for gradual, creeping humour)

よくある間違い

• Using じわる for immediately funny things — the key nuance is the delayed, building quality of the humour

起源と歴史

Derived from the onomatopoeia じわじわ (jiwa jiwa, gradually/slowly seeping) plus the verb-forming suffix る. The onomatopoeia describes something spreading or intensifying slowly, applied here to the sensation of growing amusement.

文化的背景

時代: 2010s social media slang

世代: 10s-30s, social media users

社会的背景: Internet culture and youth speech

地域メモ: Used nationwide, especially common on Twitter/X and LINE. One of the defining slang words of 2010s Japanese internet culture.