Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

hentai

/ˈhɛntaɪ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.22 in modern English

Syllables: hen-tai
IPA: /ˈhɛntaɪ/

9

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A work of anime or manga (or any similar medium) that contains heavily sexual or pornographic art.

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"There was a hentai video that I saw / I told you about the night that we first made love"
"X defines adult content as […] This definition also applies to "AI-generated, photographic or animated content such as cartoons, hentai or anime"."

Etymology

Pseudo-Japonism, derived from 変(へん)態(たい) (hentai, “pervert”), short for 変(へん)態(たい)性(せい)欲(よく)者(しゃ) (hentai seiyoku-sha, literally “person with abnormal sexual desires”).

Usage

Inflected Forms

hentais (plural)

Frequently Paired Words

ecchi pornhwa pornhua

Questions

How do you pronounce hentai?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈhɛntaɪ/.
What does hentai mean?: A work of anime or manga (or any similar medium) that contains heavily sexual or pornographic art.
Where does hentai come from?: Pseudo-Japonism, derived from 変(へん)態(たい) (hentai, “pervert”), short for 変(へん)態(たい)性(せい)欲(よく)者(しゃ) (hentai seiyoku-sha, literally “person with abnormal sexual desires”).

How to pronounce hentai

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “hentai”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈhɛntaɪ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “hentai”.
Repeat and practice — Say “hentai” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.