Japanese Gen Z's top buzzword this year is 'frog-ization,' the idea that your crush isn't actually that attractive once they start liking you

Aditi Bharade
Updated ·2 min read

  • Japanese Gen Z's top buzzword for the first half of 2023 is "frog-ization."

  • It's like getting an "ick," the feeling you get after realizing your crush isn't that attractive.

  • It references the tale of "The Frog Prince," where a man starts looking more like a frog than a prince.

Japan's Gen Z has spoken. Their favorite word in the first half of 2023 is "frog-ization" — the moment when your crush starts looking way uglier than you thought they were, right after they start liking you back.

The buzzword was the top spot on Japanese thinktank Zsouken's survey of 950 Gen Z-ers. It's also the country's version of what America's Gen Z calls "ick" — so at least we know some relationship experiences are universal.

"Frog-ization," or "kaeru ka gensho" in Japanese, literally translates to "the phenomenon of turning into a frog," per a report by The Mainichi on Wednesday.

It references the story of "The Frog Prince," where a frog turns into a prince after befriending a princess.

Subverting the original tale, "frog-ization" is used to describe how one starts to lose their rose-tinted glasses after their crush starts liking them back, slowly realizing that they were never really that attractive.

It's the Japanese equivalent of "ick," which describes the precise moment you stop being attracted to someone.

Popularized by the British dating reality show "Love Island," getting "icks" can be as simple as seeing a person using the wrong emoji during a text conversation or being rude to service staff.

Zsouken conducted its online survey in May, asking 950 Japanese Gen Z-ers what their favorite buzzwords were. With a vast majority of Japanese youth being social media users, many of their buzzwords came from social media, per The Mainichi.

Other buzzwords that made it to the top were "kawachii," from the word "kawaii" meaning "cute," and "uchukushii," from "utsukushii," meaning "beautiful," per The Mainichi.

Representatives for Zsouken did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

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