O que significa Omoshiroi em japonês?

Have you ever wondered what the word omoshiroi [面白い] really means in Japanese? In this article, we will conduct a complete analysis of this word and understand its meanings, uses, etymology, inflections, origin, and secrets.

The word omoshiroi [面白い] is used as an i-type adjective [い] that means interesting, fascinating, and intriguing. It can also mean fun, pleasant, funny, comical, satisfying, favorable, desirable, encouraging, and good.

The word [面白い] is the combination of the ideogram [面] which means mask, surface, characteristics, and face, along with the ideogram [白] which means white. White represents something bright and clear, also an innocent person.

Etymology and Origin of Omoshiroi

Its origin is unknown, but its etymology is clear. The ideogram [面] here does not mean face, but is the scenery spread in front of your eyes. It can also represent the reaction of your face when seeing something pleasant and interesting.

The white that means bright and clear well represents the face of a person who is seeing a beauty or landscape that they find interesting. Thus, when you see a bright and clear scenery in front of you, it invokes a feeling of pleasantness.

This pleasant feeling was later expanded to mean “fun” or “attractive” and then further expanded to mean “interesting.” The word is a “yamatokotoba” of Japanese origin, having no relation to words of Chinese origin.

Another theory: In ancient times, people used to talk around the fire at night. When someone said something interesting, the smiling faces of others would rise and appear white in the firelight. Thus, interesting conversations lead to the whiteness that appears before the eyes.

Derived and Related Words with Omoshiroi

The word can be adapted for expressions like omoshiroiyouni [面白いように] which means easily or effortlessly. In the Kansai dialect, omoshiroi can be spoken as omoroi [おもろい].

The opposite or antonym of omoshiroi can be tsumaranai [つまらない] which means boring, trivial, and useless. Or also ajikenai [あじけない] which means tiresome, bland, tedious, irritating, miserable, and vain.

A serious synonym is kyoumibukai [興味深い] which literally means very interesting or of great interest, a higher value than omoshiroi, but not as commonly used.

We also have the noun omoshiromi [面白み] which can refer to an interest, resource, fun, or attraction. Another noun is omoshirosa [面白さ] and omoshiroge [おもしろげ] which also means interest and fun.

We have the combination of two words omoshirookashi [おもしろおかしい] which means humorous; funny; entertaining; laughable; hilarious; comical and jocular. We also have a godan verb omoshirogaru [面白がる] which means to have fun, enjoy, think about having fun;

We cannot fail to mention the Japanese adjectives ureshii and tanoshii which are closely related to the word omoshiroi. Both words are adjectives that represent something happy, cheerful, fun, but each has its differences.

Inflection and Conjugation of Omoshiroku

The adverb of the adjective omoshiroi is omoshiroku [面白く]. Below we will provide the possible inflections of the word omoshiroi and its adverb for you to examine and study at your leisure:

Inflection	Japanese	Romaji
Imperfect (未然形)	面白かろ	omoshirokaro
Continuous (連用形)	面白く	omoshiroku
Terminal (終止形)	面白い	—
Attributive (連体形)	面白い	—
Hypothetical (仮定形)	面白けれ	omoshirokere
Imperative (命令形)	面白かれ	omoshirokare
Informal negative	面白くない	omoshiroku nai
Informal past	面白かった	omoshirokatta
Informal negative past	面白くなかった	omoshiroku nakatta
Formal	面白いです	omoshiroi desu
Formal negative	面白くないです	omoshiroku nai desu
Formal past	面白かったです	omoshirokatta desu
Formal negative past	面白くなかったです	omoshiroku nakatta desu
Conjunctive	面白くて	omoshirokute
Conditional	面白ければ	omoshirokereba
Provisional	面白かったら	omoshirokattara
Volitional	面白かろう	omoshirokarō
Adverbial	面白く	omoshiroku
Degree	面白さ	omoshirosa

Example Sentences with Omoshiroi

外国人って面白いなあ。
gaikokuzin tte omoshiroi naa. 
Foreigners are interesting.

人は子供たちに面白い話をした。
Hito wa kodomo-tachi ni omoshiroi hanashi o shita.
People told the children an interesting story.

料理することは面白い。
Ryōri suru koto wa omoshiroi.
Cooking is fun.

Omoshiroi in English

Although we translate the meanings into Portuguese, it might be good to highlight the words in English that represent the meaning of omoshiroi. The English language tends to have more words to represent than Portuguese.

In English, according to jisho.org, the word omoshiroi means: interesting; fascinating; intriguing; enthralling​; amusing; funny; comical​; enjoyable; fun; entertaining; pleasant; agreeable​; good; satisfactory; favourable; desirable; encouraging.