ボキャ貧 (Bokyahin): Japanese Slang Meaning ‘Poor in Vocabulary’

Pronunciation

Preamble

ボキャ貧 (ぼきゃひん, bokyahin) would be the last thing that the readers of this website want to be.

Definition

If someone is ボキャ貧 (ぼきゃひん, bokyahin), that means they have a poor vocabulary and only use rudimentary words. In particular, it describes those who always resort to very casual and versatile words such as “やばい” and “すごい”. It is also often used in self-deprecating humour.

Word Structure

ボキャ貧 consists of the two parts “ボキャ” and “貧ひん“. The former stands for “ボキャブラリー”, a loan word from “vocabulary” in English. The kanji character 貧 generally means “poor”, as in “貧まずしい” meaning “poor” and “貧困ひんこん” meaning “poverty” . Therefore, ボキャ貧 indicates someone who has a poor vocabulary.

Example Sentences

Ex1
A: 昨日きのうのパーティーどうだった？
B：マジやばかった
A: お前まえボキャ貧かよ

A: How was the party yesterday?
B: It was マジやばい (literally awesome)
A: You are ボキャ貧 (having a poor vocabulary), aren’t you?

Ex2
味あじ音痴おんちでボキャ貧だから、何なにを食たべても「おいしい」としか言いえない。
Because I have a poor appreciation of food and a poor vocabulary, I can say nothing but “おいしい (tasty)” whatever I’m eating.

(Note) 味あじ音痴おんち describes a person who cannot differentiate good tastes from bad ones. Here, 味あじ means “taste” and 音痴おんち means “poor at understanding”. However, when 音痴 is used as it is, it means “poor at singing”.

See: 音痴 (onchi): ‘Bad Singer’ in Japanese

Synonyms: 語彙力ごいりょくがない （level of vocabulary is low）
Synonyms in English: have a poor vocabulary
Related words and phrases: ボキャブラリー (vocabulary), 貧 (poor)