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Yomi
ことだま
Rōmaji
kotodama
Type
noun
Literal Meaning
language soul
Meaning
positive or negative effects that a spoken or written word can have (or the belief that such power dwells in a word)
Additional Info
The influence can be either positive or negative. This concept is similar to 引き寄せの法則 (“law of attraction”).
Example
言霊になるから「もし負けたら」なんて言うな
Don’t say “If I lose” because it’ll become kotodama (≒ you don’t want to jinx it)