kuudere

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Japanese クーデレ (kūdere), a portmanteau of クール (kūru, “calm”), from English cool, and デレデレ (dere-dere, “in a lovey-dovey, infatuated, or lovestruck manner”, adverb).

Noun

kuudere (plural kuudere or kuuderes)

1. (chiefly Japanese fiction) A calm, aloof, reserved fictional character (usually a girl) who has a hidden soft side, especially for a love interest.
   • 2018, Ichiro Sakaki (trans. Kevin Steinbach), Outbreak Company, Volume 5, unnumbered page:

     True, she wasn't very expressive—or anyway, I didn't feel like I saw a lot of emotion from her—but if I thought of her as a kuudere, or one of those “weird girl” types, that could actually be seen as a positive.

   • 2018, "Moogle", "Cool As Rain", Otakuzine Anime Magazine, Issue #121, page 40:

     The cool and tough exterior she displays makes for a good kuudere, and the blue eyes and silver hair already sets her up for the role in the Clannad series.

   • 2021, Rifujin na Magonote, Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation, Volume 11, unnumbered page:

     Her words were as cool as ever, but there was a hint of embarrassment in her voice. Could she be one of those “kuuderes” I'd heard so much abou

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

Related terms

• dandere, kamidere, tsundere, yandere