What does “Grass” (草) mean?: Japanese Internet Slang Explained

2023/10/182023/12/16

If you are reading this then that probably means that you want to know what “Grass" stands for in Japanese. Well it basically has a meaning something like “lol". If you want to know more about how it started and dive deeper about this Internet slang, why don’t you stick around and check what I can offer to you.

How “Grass" Started:

Back when the internet was new, people used to write “(笑)" (“laugh," said as “wara") to show they found something funny. But as chatting online got faster, typing “(笑)" over and over became a hassle.

Making Things Simple:

To keep things quick, internet users began using shortcuts. They started with characters like “藁" (“straw," also said as “wara") and “ワラ" (wara) instead of “(笑)." In non-Japanese games, they even shortened “warai" (笑い) to just “w" for simplicity.

The “W" Time:

This shortcut went beyond Japanese and turned into using “w" for laughter. If something was funny, users would type “w" several times. A big moment happened on “Nico Nico Douga," a site where people comment on videos. People started using lots of “w" when they found something hilarious, like “wwwww" or “wwwwwwwwwwwww." It looked like grass growing on the screen, giving birth to the word “草" (grass) in online groups.

　

You can learn more about “Nico Nico Douga" in this article!⬇⬇⬇⬇

Grass Goes Everywhere:

As social media got big, “草"(grass) left Nico Nico Douga and became part of Japanese online culture everywhere. Today, it’s a known symbol for laughter on different websites.

Wrapping It Up:

So now you know that in the Japanese internet culture “Grass" means something like “lol" and resembles laughter. I hope that this post taught you something and why don’t you leave a comment while you are still here! Have a nice day!🌱