School & Student Life

Japanese slang from school, university, and student culture

Introduction

School life in Japan — from high school clubs to university entrance exams — has its own rich slang vocabulary. Terms like ぼっち (loner) and ガリ勉 (study grind) capture the pressures and social dynamics of student life.

This chapter covers slang from Japanese schools and universities.

Themes

All Japanese Slang in This Chapter (79)

• 受験戦争 The intense, high-stakes competition surrounding entrance exams for schools a...
• ガリ勉 A study nerd or grind; someone who studies obsessively and relentlessly.
• スクールカースト The unspoken social hierarchy among students in a school class, ranking popul...
• 1軍 The top-tier popular kids in a school's social hierarchy; the 'first string' ...
• ウェイ系 Loud, rowdy, party-loving students who are always hyped up and socially boist...
• マイルドヤンキー A mild or soft delinquent; locally rooted young people with a low-key rebelli...
• 真面目系クズ Someone who looks serious and responsible on the outside but is actually lazy...
• 留年 Being held back a year in school; repeating a grade or academic year due to i...
• 浪人 A student spending a gap year studying to retake university entrance exams af...
• 予備校 A cram school specifically for university entrance exam preparation, attended...
• 塾 An after-school tutoring academy or cram school where students study suppleme...
• 内申点 Internal school report scores used for high school and university admissions,...
• 指定校推薦 A university admission system where specific high schools receive reserved re...
• AO入試 Admissions Office entrance exam; a holistic university admission process eval...
• Fラン An F-rank university; a low-prestige, easy-to-enter school often mocked for p...
• 学歴フィルター The practice of filtering job applicants based on the prestige of their unive...
• テスト前の一夜漬け Cramming the night before an exam; an all-night last-minute study session.
• 赤点 A failing grade on a test, traditionally marked in red ink; the minimum passi...
• 単位 Course credits needed to graduate from university; the basic unit of academic...
• 落単 Failing a course and losing the credits; dropping a unit due to poor grades o...
• ゼミ A university seminar class; a small study group led by a professor focused on...
• サークル A university club or extracurricular activity group, typically more casual an...
• 部活 School club activities; organized after-school sports, arts, or cultural grou...
• 文化祭 A school cultural festival where classes and clubs put on performances, food ...
• 体育祭 School sports festival or athletic meet where students compete in teams throu...
• 修学旅行 A school field trip or class excursion, typically a multi-day trip to another...
• 卒論 Graduation thesis or dissertation; the final research paper required to compl...
• 卒業式 Graduation ceremony; the formal event marking completion of a school or unive...
• 入学式 School entrance ceremony; the formal event welcoming new students at the star...
• 新歓 Welcome party or orientation events for new university students, hosted by cl...
• 先輩 A senior student, upperclassman, or someone more experienced in a shared cont...
• 後輩 A junior student, underclassman, or someone less experienced in a shared cont...
• タメ Someone the same age or year as you; also refers to speaking casually as equa...
• インターン An internship at a company, typically done by university students as part of ...
• ES Entry sheet; the standardized application form that Japanese companies requir...
• NNT Having no unofficial job offers yet; still looking for employment as graduati...
• 内定 An unofficial job offer given to a student before graduation, securing their ...
• お祈りメール A rejection email from a company, named after the standard closing phrase tha...
• レポート地獄 Report hell; the overwhelming experience of having too many essays, papers, o...
• 出席カード An attendance card submitted during university lectures to prove you were pre...
• 代返 Having a friend answer roll call or submit an attendance card on your behalf ...
• 全休 A day with zero scheduled classes — the holy grail of university timetable pl...
• 空きコマ A free period or gap between scheduled classes in a university timetable.
• 1限 First period — the earliest class of the day, typically starting at 8:50 or 9...
• 学食 University cafeteria — the affordable on-campus dining hall that is a central...
• 下宿 Student lodging or boarding house — living away from home while attending uni...
• 仕送り Money sent from parents to support a student living away from home — a financ...
• 奨学金 Scholarship — though in Japan, this word most commonly refers to student loan...
• ブラックバイト An exploitative part-time job that overworks students, ignores labour laws, a...
• 掛け持ち Juggling multiple part-time jobs or commitments simultaneously — a common rea...
• 遊び人 A party animal or player — someone who prioritises fun, socialising, and roma...
• 非リア The opposite of リア充 (riajū) — someone who lacks a fulfilling social or romant...
• オタサーの姫 The sole girl in an otaku-dominated university club who receives excessive at...
• キャンパスライフ Campus life — the overall university experience including classes, clubs, fri...
• 大学デビュー Reinventing yourself when starting university — changing your appearance, per...
• 量産型大学生 A cookie-cutter university student who looks, dresses, and acts exactly like ...
• GPAガチ勢 A student obsessively focused on achieving the highest possible GPA — a tryha...
• 鬼キャン A sudden, last-minute class cancellation by a professor — leaving students wh...
• 休講 A cancelled class or lecture — one of the most celebrated words in a universi...
• 補講 A make-up class held to compensate for a cancelled lecture — the dreaded pric...
• 追試 A make-up exam or retest — a second chance given to students who missed or fa...
• 教職 The teacher certification course track at university — an extra curriculum th...
• 院進 Advancing to graduate school — the decision to continue to a master's or doct...
• 文系 Humanities or liberal arts track — one half of Japan's fundamental academic d...
• 理系 Science and engineering track — the other half of Japan's arts-versus-science...
• 無理ゲー An impossible game — a situation so hopeless or unfair that success is unachi...
• 陽キャラ A bright, outgoing, extroverted personality type — the social butterfly who t...
• 陰キャ営業 Deliberately performing or exaggerating an introverted persona — putting on a...
• 陽キャ営業 Deliberately putting on an extroverted, sociable act to fit in — performing e...
• 詰み Checkmate — a hopeless, game-over situation where there is no way out, borrow...
• レポ Short for レポート (report) — a university written assignment or paper, the bane ...
• フル単 Getting full credits for the semester — passing every single course without d...
• 秀才キャラ The 'smart kid' persona or role within a friend group — the person everyone e...
• リモート授業 Remote or online classes — lectures delivered via video conferencing rather t...
• 出席ピッ The act of tapping your student IC card on a reader to register attendance — ...
• 学祭 University festival — the abbreviated form of 学園祭, one of the biggest annual ...
• 仮面浪人 A student enrolled at one university while secretly studying to retake entran...
• OB訪問 Visiting alumni for job-hunting advice — an important networking ritual in th...
• レジュメ A lecture handout or summary — the printed outline a professor distributes in...