# shoujo ai

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. Anime and manga that explore emotional, but largely platonic, homoerotic relationships between women.
2. A genre of manga, anime, or hentai featuring lesbian sex and romance; yuri.
3. Lolicon.

## Etymology
Two connected etymologies. Either interpreted as a calque of Japanese 少女愛 (shōjo ai), or a specialized neologism created in analogy to shounen ai (Japanese 少年愛(しょうねんあい) (shōnen'ai)) using Japanese vocabulary.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/shoujo-ai