yandere

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese ヤンデレ (yandere), a portmanteau of 病んでる (yanderu), contraction of 病んでいる (yande iru), progressive tense of 病む (yamu, “to be sick”), and デレデレ (dere-dere, “in a lovey-dovey, infatuated, or lovestruck manner”, adverb).
Developed on the model of tsundere (“being cold and even hostile towards another person before gradually showing a warm and caring side over time”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjɑːndɛɹeɪ/

Noun

yandere (plural yanderes)

1. (chiefly Japanese fiction) A character, usually a girl, who has an obsessive and possessive side in regards to their crush, ready to use violent and murderous means to maintain an exclusive bond.
   • 2009 October 4, sanjian [username], “Re: Bakemonogatari - comments on the end of the TV broadcast”, in rec.arts.anime.misc‎^[1] (Usenet):

     And it finally answered the question as to whether Senjougahara is tsundere or yandere.

   • 2012, Jazmine Brusola, Rabble Rousers: A Fate/Zero Anime Review‎^[2], Flyleaf (Ateneo Literary Association), page 14:

     Looking at anime charts, there's always the harem series with the dense hero and a bunch of girls whose personalities are pulled out of a set cast of tropes (the Childhood Friend, Tsundere, Yandere, and Lolita, for instance).

   • 2014, Olivia D. Knight, Please, Let Me Be a Seiyuu!‎^[3], BookRix, →ISBN, unnumbered page:

     “Believe it, man. In fact, she's seriously creepy. Like creepier than that pink-haired girl from Future Diary.”
     “Wait, what?” Sam got that reference quickly, but was not happy with the comparison. She wasn't a psychopathic, murderous Yandere stalker, from what he could see.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:yandere.

Related terms

• dandere, kamidere, kuudere, tsundere

Translations

character who fits the archetype of being genuinely kind, loving, or gentle, but suddenly switching to being aggressive or deranged

• Arabic: يَانْدِرِي f (yāndirī)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 病嬌／病娇 (zh) (bìngjiāo)

• French: yandere (fr) f
• German: Yandere f
• Italian: yandere f
• Japanese: ヤンデレ (yandere)
• Korean: 얀데레 (yandere)
• Russian: я́ндэрэ n (jándɛrɛ)
• Swedish: avundsjuk (sv) sg
• Ukrainian: я́ндере n (jándere)

Anagrams

• deanery, renayed, year-end, yearend, yearned

Japanese

Romanization

yandere

1. Rōmaji transcription of ヤンデレ