Meanings
- uncountablefictionA genre of Chinese fiction depicting romantic relationships between male characters.
Breaking Through the Clouds is a police series as well as a danmei manhua, so it's a great option for anyone who wants a romantic story with an uncommon duo and the thrilling quality of a procedural series like Criminal Minds or CSI.
2025 January 12, Chelsea Steele, Mayra Garcia, Jahanvi Shah, & Maria Remizova, “30 Must-Read Boys' Love Manhua For BL Fans”, in CBR, archived from the original on 14 Jan 20251 more example
Since the beginning of the twenty-first century, danmei has also been influenced by Euro-American slash fictions. During this time, an extensive range of danmei works in various forms, including original fictions, fan fictions, manga, animations, audio series and TV dramas, has been created, consumed and circulated on the internet.
2021, Liang Ge, “Problematizing heteronormativity: Performativity, resignification and A/B/O fiction in Chinese danmei literature”, in East Asian Journal of Popular Culture, volume 7, number 2, →DOI, page 242
Origin
From Mandarin 耽美 (dānměi, “indulging beauty”).
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
danmei. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/danmei
“danmei.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/danmei. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “danmei,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/danmei.
Source: danmei on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.