I am in a Japanese 101 class. We are supposed to translate the following sentence:


I am having trouble with that word イケメン. So far, I have:

The Japanese culture professor is ______ but he/she is not lenient at all so I don't like him/her very much

I am pretty sure we haven't had イケメン in class. Also, "ikemen" doesn't sound like an English borrowed word (at least to me).

Google translates it as "Twink" and I have found some places that say "handsome", "cool", etc. But I don't know what to trust. Can anyone explain to me the meaning(s) of the word?


イケメン is a new word which means "Good looking male person".

イケ comes from イケてる which roughly translates to "cool", "good" etc. メン is a word play, and has two meanings; メン as in "men" i.e. the English word for men, and メン as in 面（めん） i.e. the Japanese word for "face".

It is used exclusively to refer to the physical attractiveness of males.


It's not a loan word, it means "good looking". This illustrates a common problem with basic Japanese teaching, they tell you that words written in katakana are loanwords, but don't go into all the other uses of katakana (though loanwords is the most common and 7 times out of 10 that is the case).

Specifically in this case, certain colloquial words whose kanji is sufficiently outdated use katakana.

  • +1 Thanks for the info. Enno answered first though so I marked theirs as the answer. – Snowy Coder Girl Dec 2 '12 at 3:01
  • @RachelG. Yea, that's totally fair. he answered halfway through my typing this answer :P – Ataraxia Dec 2 '12 at 3:03

As the others have said, イケメン is basically a word that describes a male as being attractive/good-looking. Don't use this for females.

As sort of a supplement, I've also seen the word イケてる been used, which can function as a verb too. This was in a book though, I've never heard a native Japanese use this in normal conversation, but it may help you get a feel for the usage of イケ.

I think this plot is quite 'cool'.


Ah, hadn't seen Enno's anwer describing イケてる yet. Guess you got the question covered now ;)

  • re:"このプロットをイケてると思う。 I think this plot is 'cool'."-- I believe your japanese sentence is not grammatical. Perhaps このプロットはイケてるだと思います。would be better. – yadokari Dec 2 '12 at 6:16
  • 1
    I got this sentence from a native Japanese book (from a library, don't have the exact title here), which would make it a bit unlikely that it's incorrect. Though, don't get me wrong, I'm not fluent in Japanese by all means, (or perhaps I made a mistake in copying). The original sentence (stripped it down for the example): 僕はこのプロットを結構イケてると思うんです。 だ seems unnecessary, イケてる can function as a verb (jisho.org), the use of the を particle seems slightly off to me too. If any more advanced users would like to comment on this, I'd be glad to edit :) – Stijn Frishert Dec 2 '12 at 12:09
  • 1
    yes I too am mainly wondering about the を. I don't see how that works there. you should ask that as a question or I will if you do not. – yadokari Dec 2 '12 at 19:53
  • I'll go to the library this week and check that book again. If it turns out I copied the sentence wrongly, I'll put up a question :) – Stijn Frishert Dec 3 '12 at 1:59
  • 3
    Took a bit longer than expected, but nonetheless: I miscopied the sentence indeed, originally it had no particle. Adjusted the post. – Stijn Frishert Dec 12 '12 at 7:47

Ikemen is "handsome guy". But from first hand experience, not just any type of handsome. Think the kind of Hiroshi Abe (or Brad Pitt). So I wouldn't use this for the Korean mop-hair gayish types.


As for the actual meaning of the word, look no further than @Enno Shioji's answer. As a sidenote,

「ブサメン」— A male with unfortunate looks.

  • Etymology: 不細工 (ブサイク) ugly + (メン) same as イケメン

「フツメン」— A male with average looks.

  • Etymology: 普通 (フツウ) average + (メン) same as イケメン

I will add that in Japan, social caste is determined by how good looking (or not) you are. This is true to some degree in most of the world, but this is especially the case in Japan.

For example, you might getting bullied for being ugly. Even worse, if you are working for a company, you will get hired / get promotions based on how good looking or ugly your face is. It is sad, but it is the truth.

Your Answer

