What does “戯言” mean in English?
It refers to rubbish or nonsense spoken by someone. It's a dismissive way to call out someone's foolishness.
You might use it similarly to calling someone a 'load of crap' in English. It's informal and not particularly strong, often used to dismiss someone's comments rather than as an outright insult.
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Related Japanese words
すけべ
2/5 · Coarsesukebe
This refers to someone who is lecherous or has a dirty mind. It's often used in a teasing context.
なめるな
2/5 · Coarsenameruna
It's a warning not to underestimate or disrespect the speaker. Literally, it means 'don't lick.'
ガキ
2/5 · Coarsegaki
It's a rude way to refer to a child, often implying they're annoying or troublesome. The literal translation is 'brat.'
キモい
2/5 · Coarsekimoi
It means something is creepy or gross. It's a casual shortening of the phrase 'kimochi warui,' which literally means 'bad feeling.'
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 Viddexa SafeText, FlacSy/BadWords, washyourmouthoutwithsoap (MIT, MIT AND CC-BY-4.0). Editorial content © Swear Atlas.