マジで草

• Reading: マジでくさ
• Romaji: maji de kusa
• Pronunciation: /ma.dʑi.de.kɯ.sa/

Meaning

A combination of 'seriously' and 'LOL' — expressing that something is genuinely hilarious.

マジで草 combines マジで (maji de, seriously/for real) with 草 (kusa, the laughing term from www looking like grass). Together they express that something is so funny the speaker is genuinely laughing. It is more emphatic than 草 alone — adding マジで emphasizes that the laughter is real, not just polite. Very common on Twitter/X, YouTube comments, and texting. Can also be written as まじで草 in all hiragana.

Examples

1. 犬が自分のしっぽ追いかけてるのマジで草。 The dog chasing its own tail is seriously LOL.
2. あの動画マジで草だから見て。 That video is seriously hilarious, go watch it.
3. 先生が黒板に書き間違えてマジで草だった。 The teacher wrote the wrong thing on the board — seriously LOL.

Usage Guide

Context: texting, social media, YouTube comments, online chat

Tone: amused, emphatic laughter

Do Say

• マジで草ｗｗｗ (Seriously LOL)
• それマジで草なんだけど (That's genuinely hilarious)

Don't Say

• 目上の人に「マジで草」は失礼 (Saying 'maji de kusa' to superiors is rude — say 面白いですね)

Common Mistakes

• Not understanding 草 means laughter — newcomers may be confused by 'seriously grass'
• Overusing マジで草 to the point where it loses its emphatic quality

Origin & History

Combination of マジで (seriously, from 1990s youth slang) and 草 (LOL, from 2010s internet culture where www resembles grass). The compound became standard in 2010s-2020s online communication.

Cultural Context

Era: 2010s-present internet culture

Generation: Teens to 30s

Social background: Universal online casual

Regional notes: Used across all of Japan. One of the most common emphatic laughing expressions in modern internet Japanese.