

If you try to google "hentai definition" most result would define hentai as a
Japanese genres of manga and anime with sexually explicit images and plots.
But Wikipedia explains it otherwise:

> **In Japanese** , the term describes any type of perverse or bizarre sexual
> desire or act; **it does not represent a genre of work**.
>
> Internationally, hentai is a catch-all term to describe a genre of anime and
> manga pornography.

[And from this question we know that the word hentai never means anime porn in
Japan.](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/q/44360)

> No, hentai is a typical "英製和語" that has gained a totally different meaning
> outside of Japan. It never means anime porn in Japan.

From that question, OP mentioned that it was originated from 4chan, but from
some comment on that question, the word it self was already in use for
Japanese animation porn long before 4chan.

So how come non-Japanese refer to anime and manga pornography as hentai? And
when did it start?


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anime-history terminology manga-history
Why is pornographic anime and manga referred to as "hentai" by non-Japanese sources? And when did it start?


As mentioned by Krazer, [A Short History of 'Hentai ' by Mark McLelland
](http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue12/mclelland.html/%22Relevent%20Reading%22)
provides an excellent in depth analysis of the word's origin.

For people who do not want to read such a lengthy article, its gist is :

Since the Meiji period, the use of the term hentai has had a parallel history
in both science and psychology, but the sense that hentai communicates of
something being unusual or abnormal comes from the latter.

It was first used in the middle of the Meiji period in the context of the
developing science of psychology to describe disorders such as hysteria as
well as to refer to paranormal abilities such as telepathy and hypnosis.It had
the connotation of something outside or beyond the normal.

Although the term originally circulated only among medical specialists, by
1917 it was being popularised via such journals such as Hentai shinri
[Abnormal psychology]. However it did not have any particular sexual
connotations in this context. Hentai's sexual reference was to come not
through its connection with hentai shinri but through its juxtaposition with
another, related term, hentai seiyoku or 'abnormal sexual desires'.

The technical term seiyoku or 'sexual desire' was introduced into Japanese via
German sexology which began to be translated by medical doctors such as the
army physician and novelist Mori Ōgai from the middle of the Meiji period.The
notion of hentai seiyoku or perverse or abnormal sexual desire was popularised
via the translation of German sexologist Krafft-Ebing's text Psychopathia
Sexualis which was given the Japanese title Hentai seiyoku shinrigaku [The
psychology of perverse sexual desires].


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