boys' love; BL
Abbreviation of ボーイズラブ (wasei-eigo 'boys love'); refers to a genre of comics, novels, and other media depicting male-male romance, primarily created by and for women.
See also: ボーイズラブ
彼女はＢＬ漫画をよく読んでいる。
She often reads BL comics.
最近、ＢＬ小説が映画化された。
Recently, a BL novel was adapted into a movie.
bill of lading; B/L
Abbreviation of 船荷証券 (bill of lading); used in shipping and trade contexts.
See also: 船荷証券
輸出の際にはＢＬが必要です。
A bill of lading is required for export.
She's recently gotten into reading BL comics.
輸出会社は貨物のＢＬを発行した。
The export company issued a bill of lading for the cargo.
ＧＬ refers to romantic/sexual fiction between women, while ＢＬ (boys' love) is the corresponding genre depicting romance between men.
やおい originally referred to amateur, often more explicit fan-created male-male romance stories, whereas ＢＬ now covers the broader, commercially published genre.
Standard abbreviation written in fullwidth Latin letters; used for both senses.
Explicitly punctuated variant; rarely used in practice.
Abbreviation. Sense 1 is from wasei-eigo ボーイズラブ (boys love). Sense 2 is from English 'bill of lading'.