manga
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of manga
1985–90; < Japanese: literally, cartoon, comic strip
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Explanation
Manga is a Japanese style of comic books and graphic novels. Astro Boy and Dragon Ball are examples of popular manga. Manga is sold around the world and translated into dozens of languages, but it's mainly published in Japan, where it's popular with all ages of readers. In Japanese, manga literally translates to "involuntary pictures," but the word is used to describe both comics and cartooning. Western fans of manga recognize its distinctive style, with impressionistic backgrounds and big-eyed characters. Most manga is read from right to left, like Japanese writing.
Vocabulary lists containing manga
English Words Derived from Japanese
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Kwame Crashes the Underworld
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In “Daemons of the Shadow Realm,” based on the manga by acclaimed “Fullmetal Alchemist” creator Hiromu Arakawa, Huru leads a simple life in the premodern Edo-style Higashi Village.
From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026
My apartment walls feature not one, but two pieces of Berserk manga fan art.
From Slate ● Jun. 14, 2026
Yang, 41, also writes essays, manga and video game scripts.
From BBC ● May 19, 2026
Also a writer of manga and video game scripts, this was Yang's first book translated into English, by Taiwanese-American King.
From Barron's ● May 19, 2026
It became a habit for six whole months, the three of us sitting together during our free period, talking about anime and manga.
From "King and the Dragonflies" by Kacen Callender
The same would later be true with automobiles, gadgetry and — for fans of “Demon Slayer,” “One Piece” and other mangas — cartoons, to name just those few.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 7, 2021
Japan discovered its first element, nihonium, No. 113, in 2004, and Chapman reports that Japanese children read mangas dramatizing the work of the country’s top nuclear physicist, Kosuke Morita.
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 27, 2019
But these spurs in the piazza, these botas and calzoneros, these mangas and serapes, are not worn by Mexicans.
From The War Trail The Hunt of the Wild Horse by Reid, Mayne
We see mangas and tilmas, and men wearing the sandal, as in Eastern lands.
From The Scalp Hunters by Stewart, F.A.
We rose at five, dressed by candlelight, took chocolate, put on our mangas, and then planted ourselves in the passage looking down upon the patio, to watch the proceedings and preparations.
From Life in Mexico by Calderón de la Barca, Madame (Frances Erskine Inglis)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
