Table of Contents
Meaning of 卍
Originally, 卍 (manji) is a mirror image of the ancient religious icon called the “swastika symbol”, and has been used in Japan and many other countries (See the Wikipedia article for the details). In Japan, it is used as a map symbol for temples.
* There used to be a discussion regarding whether this symbol should be abolished or not due to its association with Nazi Germany. Eventually, the Japanese government decided to leave it unchanged since it has a very long history as a symbol of divinity and spirituality in Buddism. There was also a petition campaign to keep this symbol in Japan.
See also:
Learn other weird and funny-looking kanjis: 凸凹, and 〆
Meaning of マジ卍 (maji manji)
Recently (2017~2019), teen girls (especially high school female students) started to use this symbol as a slang term for describing their excitement, especially in the form of the phrase “マジ卍” (maji manji). It seems — well, I’m not a teen girl so can’t be entirely sure about this — it is usually put at the end of a sentence, like “かわいい！マジ卍”, which means “So cute! Awesome!”, where マジ卍 simply indicates one’s excitement.
Although this slang expression became popular a few years ago, appartently it has become old-fashioned already among real teen girls. Therefore, if you attempt to throw this word in a text/conversation, you may rather end up sounding like a weirdo who pretends to know the Japanese young cultures very well.
See also: Meaning of マジ (maji)
Meaning and Difference of ガチ (gachi) and マジ (maji) in Japanese
Example
A: あと1分(ぷん)で電車(でんしゃ)来(く)るっぽいよー
A: It seems the train comes in one minute
B: えーマジ卍じゃん
B: Wow, that’s so awesome!
Leave a Reply