Hikikomori in the Oxford Dictionary of English!

Their online edition doesn't appear to be updated yet.

The nearest word it lists is hirling, which is a Scottish name for a local species of salmon, and also an archaic synonym for the practice of combing.
 
Well, according to such a volume (which ought to be renamed so as to avoid further confusion), the term is defined as:

…the abnormal avoidance of social contact, typically by adolescent males.
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Rejoice! Those above an adolescent age would be deemed atypical hikikomori.
 
I can't quite understand how this was added, surely it is not an even remotely commonly used enough term to consider it now "english"?
 
It's common enough, been used in print for a while now.

I await moe getting in, the problem being the varied definition, it now having been used in print a few times.
 
Think it's been used in some psychology stuff, as well as in the media when talking about the problem in Japan. I assume at least a few manga translations leave it as well, as it doesn't otherwise have an English equivalent.
 
Jayme said:
Really? I see NEET pretty damn often but I think I've only ever seen hikikomori once.
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It's probably worth mentioning that NEET and hikikomori are different things. Hikikomoris (Hikikomori? Hikikomorii?) are usually NEETs, but not all NEETs are hikikomoris. There are plenty of chav yobs who are NEETs, but about as far away from hikikomoris as you can get.

I think it's a useful word to welcome into the English language. The Japanese use plenty of English words where there's no Japanese equivalent, after all. I'm all for internationalism.
 
couldn't "social recluse" have the same standing effect.

Anyhow, it's not like I'll use it in a conversation any time soon. Cheeseball however, yeah that'll defiantly make me sound smart
 
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