Meanings
plural webnovels
- An online novel.
Many novels, dramas, comics, and animated shows produced in China are based on popular webnovels.
2021 December 14, Mo Xiang Tong Xiu, Heaven Official’s Blessing (Tian Guan Ci Fu; volume 1), Seven Seas Entertainment, →ISBN5 more examples
It would be so much faster to have her read webnovels, but my sister isn't tech savvy and doesn't have a smartphone, so books it is.
2020 September 11, Sorahoshi, translated by Amber Tamosaitis, Past Life Countess, Present Life Otome Game NPC?!, Cross Infinite World, →ISBNA small subset of webnovels is light novels, which is a term that describes webnovels that have been picked up by a Japanese publisher.
2021 May 14, Monica Leonelle, Get Your Book Selling Wide, →ISBNMaybe not so much in Chinese webnovels, which are delightfully unrestrained and often run to hundreds of chapters, but in many other realms of writing, where an editor would have told the author to cut it out, or the author would have cut it out in anticipation of being told as much.
2022 January 4, Kali Wallace, “From Now on I’m Taking All of My Storytelling Lessons From This Wild Epic About Love, Loyalty, and Necromancy”, in Tor.comBecause of the media mentioned above, as well as the growing Western popularity of breakout Chinese shows like The Untamed and Word of Honour (which were originally webnovels), which could be streamed on Netflix, wuxia and xianxia are both experiencing a cultural moment for English-speaking audiences.
2022 August 5, Linda Codega, “The Art of Prophecy Brings Martial War Artists to Their Knees”, in GizmodoShe will oversee all aspects of development across the studio’s growing slate of series adaptations from Webtoon’s global IP catalog and Wattpad webnovels.
2022 August 16, Peter White, “Sera Tabb Joins Wattpad Webtoon As Global Head Of TV & Company Launches Animation Division”, in Deadline Hollywood
Origin
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 網文 /网文, 網絡小説 /网络小说
- 網文 /网文 (wǎngwén)Translations
- 網絡小説 /网络小说 (wǎngluò xiǎoshuō)Translations
Japanese Web小説, オンライン小説
- Web小説Translations
- オンライン小説Translations
Cite this entry
webnovel. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/webnovel
“webnovel.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/webnovel. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “webnovel,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/webnovel.
Source: webnovel on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.