やくざ Japanese meaning

やくざ Japanese meaning | Kotomora

Related words· 7

暴ぼう力りょく団だん sense 1
暴力団 is the formal legal term for an organized crime syndicate, while ヤクザ is the everyday, colloquial word that can refer to the group, a member, or the subculture.
極ごく道どう sense 1
極道 is a more literary or self-referential term for someone fully committed to the yakuza lifestyle, whereas ヤクザ is the general, everyday word for such a person.
チンピラ sense 1
チンピラ is a low-level, often young punk or hoodlum who may not belong to any organization, while ヤクザ implies established membership in organized crime.
ギャングN2sense 1
ギャング usually evokes foreign (e.g. American) gangsters or gangs, whereas ヤクザ specifically refers to Japanese organized crime members.

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無む駄だN4
無駄 is a neutral word for something wasteful or pointless, while ヤクザ (in its adjective sense) carries a stronger moral judgment of being trashy or worthless.
役やく立たたず
役立たず literally means "of no use" and focuses on uselessness, while ヤクザ (as an adjective) also implies disreputable or shady character.
マフィア
マフィア points to a foreign (esp. Italian) crime syndicate, whereas やくざ is the traditional Japanese organized-crime group.

Opposites

堅かた気ぎ sense 1
堅気 describes a law-abiding, respectable person, the direct opposite of ヤクザ as a member of organized crime.
立りっ派ぱN4
立派 describes something admirable or splendid, the opposite of ヤクザ's sense of being worthless or good-for-nothing.

Counted with

人にん
The everyday counter for people: 一人 (ひとり), 二人 (ふたり), 三人 (さんにん).
名めいN2
Used in formal/indirect contexts; everyday speech more often avoids counting people this way for this noun.

Word family

ヤクザ者もの
yakuza member; gangster; professional gambler · good-for-nothing; hoodlum; ruffian
酒さけヤクザ
drinking oneself into a stupor; extreme binge drinking

Written forms

やくざUsage33%
Hiragana spelling is standard and widely used.
ヤクザUsage67%
Katakana spelling is common, especially in media and informal contexts.

Etymology

Derived from a losing hand in a traditional card game (おいちょかぶ), where the combination 8-9-3 (ya-ku-za) is worthless, later extended to mean a good-for-nothing person and eventually a gangster.

やくざ

Meanings

Usage patterns