Pokémania

noun

Passion for the Pokémon media franchise.

Meanings

nounPokémania (uncountable)
  1. informaluncountablePassion for the Pokémon media franchise.

    Launched on the wave of Pokémania was Viz's four-part manga The Electric Tale of Pikachu.

    2009, Jason S. Yadao, The Rough Guide to Manga, Rough Guides, →ISBN, page 48
    2 more examples

    Teachers, who had vivid memories of the temporary insanity of POGS a few years earlier, said they'd never seen a craze to rival Pokémania.

    2001, Kathleen McDonnell, Honey, We Lost the Kids: Re-thinking Childhood in the Multimedia Age, Second Story Press, →ISBN, page 97

    It is one that reflects what I found to be the general attitude of American adults regarding the Pokémania that captivated U.S. youth for at least two years: that, though a popular fad of immense proportions, Pokémon (and through it Japan) influenced American youth in terms of their goals, actions, or attitudes in a way that was judged to be relatively benign.

    2008, Anne Allison, “The Attractions of the J-Wave for American Youth”, in Yasushi Watanabe, David L. McConnell, editors, Soft Power Superpowers: Cultural and National Assets of Japan and the United States, M. E. Sharpe, →ISBN, page 105
  2. uncountableThe defined eras of the global cultural Pokémon craze; definitively peaking between 1999 and 2000, followed by second wave beginning in 2016 caused by Pokémon Go.

Origin

  1. Proto-Germanic*puhô
  2. Frankish*pokō
  3. Old Frenchpoche
  4. Anglo-Normanpoket
  5. Middle Englishpocket
  6. Englishpocket
  7. Japaneseポケット
  8. Proto-Indo-European*men-
  9. Proto-Indo-European*monéyeti
  10. Proto-Italic*man-eje-
  11. Proto-Italic*moneō
  12. Proto-Italic*monestrom
  13. Latinmōnstrum
  14. Old Frenchmonstre
  15. Middle Englishmonstre
  16. Englishmonster
  17. Japaneseモンスター
  18. Japaneseポケットモンスターclip.
  19. Japaneseポケモン (Pokemon)
  20. EnglishPokémonclip.
  21. EnglishPoké-
  22. EnglishPokémania

From Poké- + -mania.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Pokémania. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pok%C3%A9mania

MLA

“Pokémania.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pok%C3%A9mania. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Pokémania,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Pok%C3%A9mania.

Source: Pokémania on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.