slice of life

noun

A work in a genre (of theater, cinema, literature, manga, etc.) that presents day-to-day happenings with no clear central plot and takes place in a world that mirrors our own.

OriginFrench tranche de vie →
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Meanings

nounslice of life (plural slices of life)

plural slices of life

  1. A work in a genre (of theater, cinema, literature, manga, etc.) that presents day-to-day happenings with no clear central plot and takes place in a world that mirrors our own.
  2. An ordinary social occurrence or sequence of events.

    […] in the culturally constituted world, but it needs advertising to link it to certain social representations, certain slices of life.

    2003, Thomas C. O'Guinn, Chris T. Allen, Richard J. Semenik, Advertising and Integrated Brand Promotion, page 201

Origin

  1. Frenchtranche de vie
  2. Englishslice of life

Calque of French tranche de vie.

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Arabic شريحة من الحياة
  • شريحة من الحياة (šarīḥah min al-ḥayāh)genre focused on day-to-day life
Chinese Mandarin 生活片段
  • 生活片段 (shēng huó piàn duàn)genre focused on day-to-day life
Esperanto tranĉaĵo de vivo, sekco de vivo
  • tranĉaĵo de vivogenre focused on day-to-day life
  • sekco de vivogenre focused on day-to-day life
French tranche de vie
  • tranche de viegenre focused on day-to-day life
Hindi जीवन का अंश
  • जीवन का अंश (jīvan kā añś)genre focused on day-to-day life
Japanese 日常系, スライス・オブ・ライフ
  • 日常系 (nichijō-kei)genre focused on day-to-day life
  • スライス・オブ・ライフ (suraisu obu raifu)genre focused on day-to-day life
Polish okruchy życia
  • okruchy życiagenre focused on day-to-day life
Portuguese retrato da vida, slice of life
  • retrato da vidagenre focused on day-to-day life
  • slice of lifegenre focused on day-to-day life
Russian повседне́вка
  • повседне́вка (povsednévka)genre focused on day-to-day life
Welsh darn o fywyd, talp o fywyd
  • darn o fywydgenre focused on day-to-day life
  • talp o fywydgenre focused on day-to-day life
Cite this entry
APA

slice of life. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slice%20of%20life

MLA

“slice of life.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slice%20of%20life. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “slice of life,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/slice%20of%20life.

Source: slice of life on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.