Translation guide
The tilde (~) is a symbol used in Japanese primarily in informal writing to indicate a drawn-out or playful tone, a range, or approximation. It is not a punctuation mark with a fixed grammatical role like in some languages.
To make a sentence sound casual, friendly, playful, or drawn-out, often in text messages, social media, or manga.
To indicate a range between two values, or an approximate number or time.
To separate a title and subtitle, or to indicate a subtitle or explanation, similar to a dash or colon in English.
Used in headings, titles, or product names to connect a main title with a subtitle or description. Often read as nothing, or sometimes as の.
新製品〜その魅力〜
New Product: Its Appeal
The tilde is not used in formal Japanese writing. In academic or business contexts, use words like から (for ranges) or 約 (for approximation) instead of the symbol.
On a Japanese keyboard, the tilde is usually typed by pressing the key for 〜 (wave dash) or using the symbol input. The fullwidth version ～ is often automatically converted.
Instead of writing a long vowel with ー (in katakana) or repeating the vowel (in hiragana), 〜 can be used to stretch the sound for emphasis or cuteness.
Means 'approximately' or 'about'. Often used with numbers when you want to be explicit about approximation, rather than using the tilde.
約100人
about 100 people