1.
obscene; indecent; lewd (especially in a legally or socially unacceptable way)
Describes sexual content, acts, or depictions considered a violation of public decency. In Japanese, 猥褻 is primarily a legal and news-media term: it appears in criminal-law names of offenses (強制猥褻罪 'indecent assault', 猥褻物頒布罪 'distribution of obscene materials') and in reports of arrests for indecent exposure, groping, or sexual molestation. Much more formal and more strongly negative than everyday words like エッチ or いやらしい.
猥褻な表現。
Obscene expression.
容疑者は猥褻行為の疑いで逮捕された。
The suspect was arrested on suspicion of indecent conduct.
この法律は猥褻物の頒布を禁じている。
This law prohibits the distribution of obscene materials.
表現の自由と猥褻の境界線をどう引くかは、古くから議論されてきた難しい問題である。
Where to draw the line between freedom of expression and obscenity has long been a difficult issue of debate.
Compound of 猥 ('disordered; lewd') and 褻 ('familiar; vulgar'). Both kanji are outside the general-use list (non-常用); news media often writes the word in hiragana (わいせつ) as a result — わいせつ}{事件, わいせつ}{行為.
USAGE:
- Used as a na-adjective: 猥褻な画像 ('obscene image'), 猥褻な言葉 ('lewd language').
- Used as a bare prefix in legal and news compounds: 猥褻行為 ('indecent conduct'), 猥褻物 ('obscene material'), 猥褻事件 ('indecency case'), 強制猥褻 ('indecent assault').
- Much stronger and more formal than いやらしい ('lewd; creepy') or エッチ ('naughty'); carries the weight of moral and legal condemnation.
COMMON COLLOCATIONS:
- 猥褻行為: indecent conduct / indecent act (esp. in criminal context)
- 猥褻物: obscene material
- 猥褻画像: obscene image / photograph
- 猥褻文書: obscene writing / publication
- 強制猥褻罪: crime of indecent assault
- 公然猥褻罪: crime of public indecency
- 猥褻容疑: suspicion of indecency
SIMILAR WORDS:
- いやらしい: lewd; creepy; nasty — everyday, subjective reaction; can apply to suggestive jokes or a 'creepy' manner, not limited to illegal conduct.
- エッチ: naughty; sexual — colloquial and often light-hearted.
- 淫ら: lewd; indecent — literary, moral-judgment tone.
- 卑わい: obscene; vulgar — close synonym, often applied to language specifically.
- 下品: vulgar; crude — broader; covers non-sexual bad taste as well.
LEGAL NOTE:
日本の刑法 (Japanese Penal Code) uses 猥褻 as a legal technical term. In modern statutes, some offense names have been revised (e.g. '強制わいせつ罪' was restructured into '不同意わいせつ罪' in the 2023 revision), but 猥褻/わいせつ remains the core word.