オワコン (Owakon) Meaning ‘Old-Fashioned’ in Japanese Slang

Pronunciation

Definition

オワコン (owakon) indicates something/someone that used to be very popular but now nobody gives a sh*t about. For instance, those comedians are called owakon who were once popular but now nobody thinks funny anymore. Another example is video games that became big hits in the past but now nobody plays. This word is usually used on the internet, but some young people use it in real life.

Word Structure

オワコン (owakon) is an abbreviation of “終おわったコンテンツ” (owatta kontentsu), which consists of the two words “終おわった” (owatta) and “コンテンツ” (kontentsu). The first word is the past form of “終わる” (owaru), and generally means “finished/over”. However, as in this expression, 終わった (owatta) is sometimes used to indicate things or people that were once popular but recently have lost their popularity. The second word “コンテンツ” (kontentsu) is loaned from “content” in English, but is used more broadly in Japanese to describe items, service, or information provided by someone/something. Although kontentsu is usually not used for people, owakon can describe anything as shown in Example Sentence 1, 2, and 3 below.

Example Sentences

Ex1
ポケモンGOとか最近さいきん誰だれもやってないし、オワコンだろ
I think nobody plays “Pokémon GO” these days and it’s owakon (not popular anymore).

Ex2
あの芸人げいにん最近さいきんマジつまらないし、完全かんぜんにオワコン
That comedian is so boring these days. He’s completely  owakon (out of date; sh*tty).

Ex3
「嵐あらしはオワコン」っていったら、嵐の大だいファンの友達ともだちが大だい激怒げきどした
When I said ‘Arashi  is owakon (not popular anymore)’, my friend, who is a fanatic of Arashi, got furious.

(note)

嵐あらし (Arashi) is one of the most popular male idol groups in Japan.

Synonyms: 時代じだい遅おくれ (out of date)
Synonyms in English: dated, out of date, old fashioned
Related words and phrases: 終おわった (finished/over), コンテンツ (content)