uncanny valley

English

Etymology

Calque of Japanese 不気味の谷 (ぶきみのたに, bukimi no tani), from Middle Chinese 不 (pjuw, “not”) + 氣味 (kì-mjɨ̀j, “sense, sentiment”, literally “taste and smell”) + Japanese の (no, noun modifier particle) + 谷 (たに, tani, “valley”). First used in 1970 by roboticist Masahiro Mori.

Noun

uncanny valley

1. A range of appearances, mannerisms, and/or behaviors of a humanoid figure that are subtly different from human and thereby cause feelings of discomfort, such as fear or revulsion.
   • 1970, Masahiro Mori, The Uncanny Valley (Energy, 7(4), pp. 33–35):

     So in this case, the appearance is quite human like, but the familiarity is negative. This is the uncanny valley.

   • 2006, Sebastiano Bagnara, Gillian Crampton Smith, Theories and Practice in Interaction Design:

     However, when the robot is so similar that it may be momentarily mistaken for real, the transition has a local minimum characterized by a sudden decrease of familiarity, the "uncanny valley"—a dip of frustration due to unmet expectations.

   • 2007, Jonathon Keats, Control + Alt + Delete: A Dictionary of Cyberslang:

     Almost human in appearance, yet not quite, the characters in 3-D computer animations are more disturbing than overt caricatures. The realm these creatures occupy is called the uncanny valley [...].

Translations

subtle differences from human behaviour that may cause negative reactions

• French: vallée dérangeante (fr) f
• Italian: valle perturbante f
• Japanese: 不気味の谷 (ぶきみのたに, bukimi no tani)
• Polish: dolina niesamowitości f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: vale da estranheza m
• Russian: злове́щая доли́на f (zlovéščaja dolína)
• Spanish: valle inquetante m