isekai

I1S1E1K5A1I1
/ˈiːsəkaɪ//iˈsɛkaɪ/uncommon/ˈɪsəkaɪ/

noun

A genre of Japanese fiction involving everyday people transported to alternative fantasy or virtual worlds.

OriginJapanese 異世界 →
Scrabble 10
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounisekai (countable and uncountable, plural isekai or isekais)

plural isekais

  1. JapaneseuncountablefictionA genre of Japanese fiction involving everyday people transported to alternative fantasy or virtual worlds.

    It's not every day that an isekai author gets published out of the sea of isekai stories on there.

    2017, Ryo Shirakome, DxS, Arifureta: From Commonplace to World's Strongest (volume 1)
  2. JapaneseuncountablefictionA genre of Japanese fiction in which the protagonist is reincarnated.
  3. countableAny piece of media in the above genres.
verbisekai (third-person singular simple present isekais, present participle isekaiing, simple past and past participle isekaied or isekai'd)

present singular third person isekais · participle present isekaiing · participle past isekaied · past isekaied · participle past isekai'd · past isekai'd

  1. slangtransitivelifestyleTo transport (someone) into an alternative world, often by killing them.
  2. broadlyeuphemisticTo murder (someone), to kill (someone).

Origin

  1. Japanese異世界
  2. Englishisekai

Borrowed from Japanese 異世界 (isekai, literally “different world”).

More words from Japanese

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 異世界 /异世界
  • 異世界 /异世界 (yìshìjiè)Dimension travel genre
Dutch isekai, isekai
  • isekaiPiece of media in (1) genre
  • isekaiDimension travel genre
French isekai, isekai
  • isekaiPiece of media in (1) genre
  • isekaiDimension travel genre
  • isekaïserTo transport into an alternative world
German Isekai
  • IsekaiDimension travel genre
Japanese 異世界作品, 異世界ファンタジー作品
  • 異世界作品 (isekai sakuhin)Piece of media in (1) genre
  • 異世界ファンタジー作品 (isekai fantajī sakuhin)Piece of media in (1) genre
  • 異世界 (isekai)Dimension travel genre
  • 異世界ファンタジー (isekai fantajī)Dimension travel genre
  • 転生 (tensei)Reincarnation genre
  • 異世界To transport into an alternative world
Korean 이세계
  • 이세계 (isegye)Dimension travel genre
Russian исекайнуться
  • исекайнуться (isekajnutʹsja)To transport into an alternative world
Spanish isekai
  • isekaiTo transport into an alternative world
Ukrainian ісекайнутися
  • ісекайнутися (isekajnutysja)To transport into an alternative world
Ukranian ісекай
  • ісекай (isekaj)Dimension travel genre
Vietnamese isekai, dị thế giới
  • isekaiDimension travel genre
  • dị thế giớiDimension travel genre
  • dị giớiDimension travel genre

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

saikei
Cite this entry
APA

isekai. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/isekai

MLA

“isekai.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/isekai. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “isekai,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/isekai.

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