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Word file #012RisingStories & games

What does danmei mean?

耽美dānměi

Say itDAN-maynoun (uncountable; often used before another noun)

Character by character
  1. 耽dānindulge in
  2. 美měibeauty

The Chinese name for boys’ love (BL), a genre of romance stories about two male characters; in English it usually means BL from China.

Written by the Second Language TeamWritten

Danmei is the Chinese name for boys’ love, or BL: romance stories about two men. It covers web novels, comics (called manhua), audio dramas, animation, and live-action TV. Most of it is written by women, for women. English speakers meet the word in fan spaces, in official English translations of Chinese web novels, and in research about Chinese pop culture. In English, the word usually means BL that comes from China, not Japanese BL, which English-speaking fans usually call yaoi.

English speakers usually say DAN-may. The Chinese form is 耽美 dānměi, and the characters are the same in simplified and traditional Chinese. 耽 dān has the first tone, high and flat, and means “to indulge in.” 美 měi has the third tone, low and dipping, and means “beauty.” Scholars translate the word as “addicted to beauty” [1]. Chinese took the word from Japanese, where the same characters are read tanbi [1][2]. Danmei is a neutral genre label, like “romance” or “fantasy,” and it is not slang. It is fine in any talk about books or shows, but the genre is a sensitive topic in mainland China.

Word stats

Known in English
Fans of Chinese web novels and dramas know it well. Most other English speakers have never seen it, unless a friend has handed them a very long novel.
Said in China today
Chinese fans say 耽美 every day in the same sense, though some sites use the softer label 纯爱 instead.
Polite
The word itself is a neutral genre name. The topic is sensitive in mainland China, and not every story is for every age.
Freshness
More people look it up every year, as more Chinese novels and dramas find English-speaking fans.

Spotted in the wild

Group chat · Friday, 11:40 pm
  1. Mayaok i finished the danmei novel you sent me
  2. Youand??
  3. Mayawhy did nobody warn me about the ending. i’m emotionally unavailable for the weekend
  4. Youi literally said bring tissues

What it means here: Danmei names the genre: Maya read a Chinese romance novel about two men.

Comments under a drama clip
  1. Priyais this the danmei adaptation everyone keeps talking about?
  2. Leoyes, but the show is way less romantic than the novel. read the book
  3. Priyaadded to my list. my list is now longer than the novel

What it means here: A danmei adaptation is a TV show based on a danmei novel; Chinese fans call these 耽改 dāngǎi.

Text with a cousin
  1. Yourandom question, have you heard of danmei?
  2. Linlol of course. 我也看耽美
  3. Youwait, you read it too??
  4. Linhalf my dorm did. we shared one phone charger and three novels

What it means here: Lin writes 我也看耽美 (wǒ yě kàn dānměi), “I read danmei too”; in Chinese the word names the same genre.

How to use it

  • a danmei novel / drama / audio dramaShe’s listening to a danmei audio drama on her way to work.
  • read / write danmeiHe started reading danmei after watching one adaptation.
  • danmei fans / readersDanmei fans translate a lot of notes about Chinese culture for each other.
  • in danmeiIn danmei, the two leads often take a hundred chapters to admit their feelings.

Don’t say it like this

  • Sounds offI just finished a danmei.

    Say thisI just finished a danmei novel.

    Danmei names a genre, like “romance,” so you add a noun such as novel, drama, or comic to talk about one work.

  • Sounds offMy favorite danmei is a Japanese manga.

    Say thisMy favorite BL is a Japanese manga.

    In English, danmei usually means BL from China. For Japanese works, fans say BL or yaoi.

  • Sounds offDanmei is just another word for adult content.

    Say thisDanmei is a romance genre; some stories are chaste and some are for adults.

    The word is about two male leads in love, not about how explicit a story is.

  • Sounds off“DAN-mee”

    Say this“DAN-may”

    美 měi sounds close to the English word “may,” not “me.”

danmei or not?

Is each of these danmei? Pick an answer to find out.

  1. A Chinese web novel about two male sword fighters who slowly fall in love.

  2. A Chinese web novel about two women who fall in love.

  3. A Chinese audio drama based on a male–male romance novel from Jinjiang.

  4. A Japanese manga about two boys in love, sold in English.

The danmei family

  • BL / yaoiBoys’ love: male–male romance, especially Japanese manga and anime (yaoi).Same genre, different passport. Danmei is the one that arrived through Chinese web novels.
  • 百合 bǎihé“Lily”: romance stories about two women.Danmei’s partner genre. Same long chapters, different leads.
  • 耽改 dāngǎiShort for “danmei adaptation”: a TV drama made from a danmei novel.Fans watch it, then argue for weeks about how it changed the book.

Where it came from

  1. Early 1990sJapanese BL manga reach mainland China as pirated copies and unofficial translations. The words BL and 耽美 come with them. In Japan, 耽美 (tanbi) was an older name for the genre, used before yaoi and BL [2].
  2. Late 1990sChinese writers begin their own danmei stories, shaped by Japanese BL that came in through Taiwan and Hong Kong [1]. The Lucifer Club (路西弗俱乐部) becomes the first website for danmei fiction [2].
  3. 2003The Jinjiang (晋江) literature website is founded. It plays a big part in making danmei a local Chinese genre and a paid business [2].
  4. TodayDanmei novels reach English readers through fan and official translations, and more people look up the word every year.

Danmei vs. BL vs. yaoi

All three words name the same kind of story: a romance between two male characters. The difference is mostly about where the story comes from and who is talking.

WordWhere it comes fromWhat English-speaking fans usually mean
danmei (耽美 dānměi)Chinese, borrowed from JapaneseBL from China: web novels, manhua, audio dramas, TV
BL (boys’ love)Japanese-made EnglishAny male–male romance, from any country
yaoiJapaneseJapanese BL, mostly manga and anime
tanbi (耽美)Japanese, meaning “aestheticism”An older Japanese name for the genre, used before yaoi and BL

In Japan, tanbi was an early name for male–male romance manga, and the words yaoi and BL came later. When the word reached China, it lost that Japanese background. It became the main name for the genre in mainland China and Taiwan [2]. Chinese fans use 耽美 and “BL” for the same thing, and 耽美 is the term Chinese media prefer [1].

In English, danmei is a genre noun, so you do not count it. English Wiktionary lists it as an uncountable noun meaning “a genre of Chinese fiction depicting romantic relationships between male characters” [3]. Its partner word for romance between two women is 百合 bǎihé.

Danmei also has a political history in mainland China. A 2024 paper describes three stages of censorship [1]:

  • 2004–2015: officials treated danmei as obscene. The Jinjiang website renamed its danmei section 纯爱 chún’ài, “pure love,” to present a cleaner version of the genre.
  • 2016–2020: a middle stage.
  • 2021 to now: the focus moved to TV dramas adapted from danmei novels.

So on Chinese sites you may see the softer label 纯爱 where you expected 耽美. Danmei is not explicit by definition: some works are sweet and chaste, and others are written for adults.

Sources

  1. A state against boys' love? Reviewing the trajectory of censorship over danmeiContinuum (Taylor & Francis), 2024
  2. Beyond Boundaries: Evaluating BL/Yaoi Subject Headings in Academic Library ClassificationJournal of East Asian Libraries (Cecilia Zhang), 2024
  3. danmeiWiktionary

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