What does “ボケ” mean in English?
It means fool or idiot, used as an insult. It can also refer to a comedic role in Japanese entertainment.
It's typically aimed directly at someone, similar to calling someone a dickhead in English. The tone can vary, but it's generally not the harshest insult.
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Related Japanese words
アホ
2/5 · Coarseaho
It means idiot or fool, often used as an insult. In some contexts, it can be playful rather than harsh.
馬鹿たれ
2/5 · Coarsebakatare
It means 'fool' or 'idiot,' used to insult someone's intelligence or actions.
バカ
2/5 · Coarsebaka
It means 'fool' and is used to insult someone as stupid or an idiot.
馬鹿者
2/5 · Coarsebakamono
It means 'foolish person' and is used as an insult, like calling someone a fool. It can sound quite theatrical or stern depending on the context.
About this data
Swear Atlas is a source-attested, AI-curated reference — not a native-speaker-certified dictionary. Meanings and the 1–5 Burn Rating are approximate editorial assessments that vary with context, region, tone and speaker. Inclusion of a word does not constitute endorsement of its use.
“Sounds like” is an English-friendly approximation of how the word sounds, not an authoritative pronunciation. Where shown, the romanisation is a conventional Latin-script transliteration of the original spelling.
Term attested via 4troDev/profanity.csv (MIT). Editorial content © Swear Atlas.