Help:Japanese book word glossary

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This is a glossary of Japanese book-related words and their English equivalents. They are listed in Japanese gojūon order. There are often multiple words for the same thing, so use the search function to find all of them.

あ

• 愛蔵版 (あいぞうばん, aizōban) – collector's edition
• 遊び紙 (あそびがみ, asobigami) – flyleaf; a blank page at the very beginning of the book;
• あたま (atama) – top edge; the top paper edges (collectively) when a book is standing upright; see also 天;
• あとがき (atogaki) – afterword; postscript;
• 後付け (あとづけ, atozuke) – postscript; appendix; afterword;

い

• 異世界 (いせかい, isekai) – alternate universe; parallel universe; alternate dimension; other world; alternate world;
• イラスト (irasuto) – illustration; sometimes used to indicate the artist who did the illustrations; see also 絵 and 画;
• 入稿 (いれこう, irekō or にゅうこう, nyūkō) – (manuscript) submission; submitting a manuscript to a printer;

う

• 埋め草 (うめくさ, umekusa) – filler text; placeholder text; dummy text;

え

• 絵 (え, e) – picture; often used to indicate the artist who did the illustrations; see also 画 and イラスト;
• エスエフ (esuefu) – science fiction; sometimes also SF;

お

• 奥付 (おくづけ, okuzuke) – colophon; copyright page; publication information page;
• 帯 or 帶 (おび, obi) – wrap-around strip of paper, usually used for current advertisement, praise, and so on; see also 帯紙 and 腰帯 and バンド;
• 帯紙 (おびがみ, obigami) – wrap-around strip of paper, usually used for current advertisement, praise, and so on; see also 腰帯 and 帯 and バンド;

か

• 怪談物 (かいだんもの, kaidan mono) – ghost story; scary story; horror story; see also 恐怖物語;
• 角背 (かくせ or かくぜ, kakuse or kakuze) – a flat spine on a book; see also 背 and 丸背;
• 硬表紙 (かたびょうし, katabyōshi) – hard cover; stiff cover (including semi-hard covers);
• カバー (kabā) – cover (of a book); see also 表紙;
• カバーイラスト (kabā irasuto) – cover illustration; see also 表紙;
• 画 (が, ga) – picture; illustration; often used to indicate the artist who did the illustrations; see also 絵 and イラスト;

き

• 脚注 (きゃくちゅう, kyakuchū) – footnote; endnote; see also 後注;
• キャプション (kyapushon) – caption; explanatory note for an illustration or chart; see also 側注 and 注 and 凡例 and 注釈 and 頭注 and 割注;
• 恐怖物語 (きょうふものがたり, kyōfu monogatari) – scary story; horror story; sometimes abbreviated to 恐怖物 or simply 恐怖; see also 怪談物;

く

• 口絵 (くちえ, kuchie) – frontispiece;

け

• 罫下 (けした, keshita) – bottom edge; the bottom paper edges (collectively) when a book is standing upright; see also 地;
• ゲラ (gera) – galley proof; see also ゲラ刷り;
• ゲラ刷り (ゲラずり, gerazuri) – galley proof; see also ゲラ;
• 原作者 (げんさくしゃ, gensakusha) – original creator; original author; often means "based on [the work of this] author; used to indicate someone who originally created the world or universe of a story, but does not indicate the author; Sometimes indicated with only 原作;
• 幻想 (げんそう, gensō) – fantasy;

こ

• 号 (ごう, gō) – number; issue;
• 校正 (こうせい, kōsei) – proofreading; copyediting;
• 校了 (こうりょう, kōryō) – proofreading completed; copyediting completed;
• 小口 (こぐち, koguchi) – fore-edge; cut edge (of the paper); trimmed edge (of the paper); the side, trimmed edge pf the pages when the book is standing upright;
• 告知用 (こくちよう, kokuchiyō) – (used for) announcement; (used for) advertisement;
• 腰帯 (こしおび or こしまき, koshiobi or koshimaki) – wrap-around strip of paper, usually used for current advertisement, praise, and so on; see also 帯紙 and 帯 and バンド;
• 後注 (こちゅう, kochū) – endnote; see also 脚注;

さ

• 索引 (さくいん, sakuin) – index (of a book);
• 作者 (さくしゃ, sakusha) – author;
• 参考文献 (さんこうぶんけん, sankō bunken) – works cited; references;

し

• しおり (shiori) – (ribbon) bookmark; see also スピン;
• 辞書 (じしょ, jisho) – dictionary; see also 辞典 and 事典
• 辞典 (じてん, jiten) – dictionary;
• 事典 (じてん or ことてん, jiten or kototen) – encyclopedia; see also 大百科 and 百科事典 and 百科辞典 and 百科全書
• 者 (しゃ, sha) – author;
• 出張校正 (しゅっちょうこうせい, shutchō kōsei) – proofreading a printer's proof, especially by an author or an editor;
• 小説 (しょうせつ, shōsetsu) – novel;
• ショートショート or ショート・ショート (shōto shōto) – flash fiction; short short story;
• ショートストーリー or ショート・ストーリー (shōto sutōrī) – short story;
• 掌編 or 掌篇 or 小編 or 小篇 (しょうへん, shōhen) – short story; short short story; flash fiction;
• 掌篇小説 (しょうへんしょうせつ, shōhen shōsetsu) – short story; short short story;
• 序文 or 叙文 (じょぶん, jōbun) – preface; foreword; introduction; see also 端書 and 端書き and 前書き;

す

• スピン (supin) – ribbon bookmark; see also しおり;

せ

• 背 or 脊 (せ, se) – spine (of a book); see also 丸背 and 角背;
• 責任校正 (せきにんこうせい, sekinin kōsei) – final print proofreading and correction (usually done by the printer); see also 責了;
• 責了 (せきりょう, sekiryō) – final print proofreading and correction (usually done by the printer); see also 責任校正;
• 背文字 (せもじ, semoji) – lettering on the spine of a book;

そ

• 装丁 or 装幀 or 装釘 or 装訂 (そうてい, sōtei) – binding (of a book); design (of a book cover);
• 側注 (そくちゅう, sokuchū) – side note; inline note; explanatory note (on the side of the page); see also キャプション and 注 and 凡例 and 注釈 and 頭注 and 割注;
• そでの部分 (そでのぶぶん, sode no bubun) – (content on the) dust jacket flap; the part of the dust jacket folded inside the book;
• 外箱 (そとばこ, sotobako) – slipcase; see also 外函;
• 外函 (そとばこ, sotobako) – slipcase; see also 外箱;

た

• 大百科 (たいひゃっか, daihyakka) – encyclopedia;
• 縦組み (たてぐみ, tategumi) – vertical typesetting (as opposed to Western-style horizontal typesetting);
• 単行本 (たんこうぼん, tankōbon) – volume; single volume; standalone volume; sometimes used to indicate a hardcover edition;
• 端書 (たんしょ, tansho) – foreword; preface; introduction; postscript; afterword; see also 端書き and 序文 and 前書き;
• 短編 or 短篇 (たんぺん, tanpen) – short story; short fiction;

ち

• 地 (ち, chi) – bottom edge; the bottom paper edges (collectively) when a book is standing upright; see also 罫下;
• 注 (ちゅう, chū) – annotation; explanatory note; commentary; see also 側注 and キャプション and 凡例 and 注釈 and 頭注 and 割注;
• 注釈 or 註釈 (ちゅうしゃく, chūshaku) – remarks; annotation; explanatory note; commentary; see also 側注 and キャプション and 注 and 凡例 and 頭注 and 割注;
• 中編小説 or 中篇小説 (ちゅうへんしょうせつ, chūhen shōsetsu) – novella; novelette; short novel;
• 著者 (ちょしゃ, chosha) – author;
• 丁数 (ちょうすう, chōsū) – number of leaves; number of pages; page count (not just numbered pages); see also ノンブル;
• 超短編 (ちょうたんぺん, chōtanpen) – flash fiction
• チリ or ちり (chiri) –

て

• 体裁 (ていさい, teisai) – (book) format or form; (book) style;
• 天 (てん, ten) – top edge; the top paper edges (collectively) when a book is standing upright; see also あたま;

と

• 頭注 or 頭註 (とうちゅう, tōchū) – headnote; explanatory note at the beginning or top; see also 側注 and キャプション and 注 and 凡例 and 注釈 and 割注;
• 扉 (とびら, tobira) – title page

な

• 中扉 (なかとびら, nakatobira) – chapter title page; section title page;

の

• のど (nodo) – (book) gutter; the center space on a page spread between the printed areas on each side of the spread;
• ノベル (noberu) – novel;
• ノンブル (nonburu) – page number; see also 丁数;

は

• 端書き (はしがき, hashigaki) – foreword; preface; introduction; postscript; afterword; see also 端書 and 序文 and 前書き;
• 柱（はしら, hashira) – header or footer space (at the top of the page, usually has the book or chapter title, the author, or page number);
• 花布 or 花ぎれ (はなぎれ, hanagire) – headband, or the flower-patterned material used to bind the tops and bottom of the spine in books; example;
• パラレルワールド or パラレル・ワールド (parareru wārudo) – parallel world; parallel universe;
• 判型 or 判形 (はんがた or はんけい, hangata or hankei) – format (size: A5, B4, etc.); paper size;
• 半扉 (はんとびら, hantobira) – half title page (generally has only the title on it, with no author or publisher information);
• バンド (bando) – wrap-around strip of paper, usually used for current advertisement, praise, and so on; see also 帯紙 and 腰帯 and 帯;
• 版面 (はんめん or はんづら, hanmen or hanzura) – printed page; typed page; face of a printing plate;
• 凡例 (はんれい, hanrei) – introductory explanatory note; introductory remarks; usage guide; legend (of a map or illustration); see also 側注 and キャプション and 注 and 注釈 and 頭注 and 割注;

ひ

• 百科事典 or 百科辞典 (ひゃっかじてん, hyakka jiten) – encyclopedia; see also 事典 and 百科全書
• 百科全書 (ひゃっかぜんしょ, hyakka zensho) – encyclopedia; see also 百科事典 and 百科辞典 and 事典
• 表紙 (ひょうし, hyōshi) – cover (of a book/magazine); often used to credit the cover artist in magazines and books; see also カバー and カバーイラスト;
• 表紙画 (ひょうしが, hyōshiga) – cover image/illustration/picture (of a book/magazine); often used to credit the cover artist in magazines and books;

ふ

• ファンタジー (fantajī) – fantasy;
• 付録 or 附録 (ふろく, furoku) – appendix; supplemental material;
• 文庫判 (ぶんこばん, bunkoban) – pocket-sized paperback;
• 文庫版 (ぶんこばん, bunkoban) – paperback edition;

へ

• 並行世界 (へいこうせかい, heikō sekai) – parallel world; parallel universe;
• 編集 (へんしゅう, henshū) – editing; compilation;
• 編集者 (へんしゅうしゃ, henshūsha) – editor; compiler;

ほ

• ホラー (horā) – horror;
• 本文 (ほんぶん or ほんもん, honbun or honmon) – body text; passage; this (specific) text;

ま

• 前書き (まえがき, maegaki) – preface; foreword; introduction; see also 端書 and 端書き and 序文;
• 前付け (まえつけ, maetsuke) – front matter (of a book);
• 丸背 (まるせ or まるぜ, maruse or maruze) – a rounded back/spine on a book; see also 背 and 角背;
• 漫画 (まんが, manga) – comics; Japanese comics;

み

• 見返し (みかえし, mikaeshi) – endpaper;
• 見返し遊び (みかえしあそび, mikaeshi asobi) – the page opposite the endpaper;
• 溝 (みぞ, mizo) – the indentation (or groove) between the flat face of the book cover and the spine (to ease the opening of the book);
• 見出し (みだし, midashi) – index; headline; title; caption;
• 耳 (みみ, mimi) – the fabric reinforcing covering used on and near the spine of a hardcover book;

も

• 目次 (もくじ, mokuji) – table of contents;
• モノクローム (monokurōmu) – monochrome;

よ

• 横組み (よこぐみ, yokogumi) – horizontal typesetting;

ら

• ライトノベル or ライト・ノベル (raito noberu) – light novel; pulp novel;
• ライノベ (rainobe) – abbreviation for light novel; pulp novel;
• ラノベ (ranobe) – abbreviation for light novel; pulp novel;

わ

• 割注 (わりちゅう, warichū) – inserted notes; annotation; sidebar note; see also 側注 and キャプション and 注 and 凡例 and 注釈 and 頭注;