Toutoi

Toutoi is a word otaku and fans use when someone they adore is so wonderful that they almost want to press their palms together in worship. Who it points to varies widely, from a character in an anime or manga, to the bond between two of them, to a real idol or voice actor. It slips out when your heart is so full that simply saying you like something no longer feels like enough.

Unlike simply saying you like something, the term carries a deeper, almost devotional nuance. When feelings of affection become overwhelming, the person or character in question can start to feel worthy of worship, like a deity or a Buddha, inspiring the urge to put your hands together in reverence. As a result, the expression conveys far more passion than ordinary praise, though it is also often used casually to mean little more than ‘this is incredible.’

Originally this was a dignified word, reserved for gods and buddhas, for human life, for a noble way of living. The fun of the term lies in how fans took it and pinned it to their feelings for their oshi. An old word of reverence, reborn as part of the modern otaku vocabulary.

Toutoi is an old adjective, long used for things worthy of reverence, such as gods and buddhas or human life. In classical Japanese it appears as “toutoshi”, and the word can be found in Tsurezuregusa, the essay collection from the Kamakura period. The Man'yōshū even holds a poem by Ōtomo no Tabito praising sake as something supremely precious.

How it Became Otaku Slang

Fans only began attaching this old word to their feelings for an oshi in the 2010s. According to a 2015 article by the web outlet Nlab, it turned up here and there among otaku from around 2012. It spread mainly among female fans in 2013, and by 2014 it had become a fairly common expression.

Who first said it, and where, is not clear. One account traces an early example to 2007, in a university community on mixi. In 2011 a thread appeared on 2channel trying to popularize the usage. None of these is a firm origin, and it is closer to the truth to see it as a word that grew up naturally in several places at once.

It first took root among female fans who cherished the characters of manga and anime, and the bonds between them. From there it reached places where people support real human beings, such as idols and voice actors. Today, whatever the gender or genre, it has become a staple term for people to talk about an oshi.

Words Born From Toutoi

A number of related expressions have also grown out of toutoi. Forms such as toutomi and toutosa, which turn the feeling into a noun, are used almost as if measuring the intensity of one’s emotions. The expression can also be modified into phrases like toutomi ga fukai (‘the preciousness runs deep’), while still conveying the same sentiment.

The state of being completely overwhelmed has its own word, toutoshi, death by preciousness. The idea is that the preciousness is so great you might be carried up to heaven, said half in jest. There is even a play on the graduation song Aogeba Toutoshi, in which the closing word is swapped for characters meaning to die of preciousness (尊し to 尊死)

In recent years, the slang form teetee has also become widespread. Derived from a slurred pronunciation of toutoi, it is especially common among VTuber fans. When a stream showcases the close bond between two creators, the comment section is often flooded with cries of ‘teetee.’ The term was even selected as one of the 30 nominees for the 2023 Social Media Buzzword Awards.

Recognized by Dictionaries as a New Word

For all its slangy feel, toutoi drew notice even from dictionaries. In Sanseido's New Words of the Year 2018, chosen by the people who compile dictionaries, toutoi came in fourth. The judges offered a lovely observation. The wish to treasure an oshi, they suggested, carries on the feeling behind the classical phrase aga-botoke, calling a beloved person one's own buddha. A word that began in reverence for gods and buddhas now carries that same feeling in a new shape.

It also placed sixth in the Gyaru Buzzword Awards 2020. With idol fans as its entry point, it has grown into a word known across generations. Worth noting, this is a separate project from the U-Can New Words and Buzzwords of the Year that make headlines every December, so the two are sometimes confused.

Toutoi is Used by Fans Abroad Too

The word reaches anime and idol fans overseas in its Japanese form. In English it is written out in romaji as toutoi, and most often translated as ‘precious’. Merchandise reading oshi ga toutoi (my oshi is precious), even turns up on overseas shopping sites. Even so, it has not soaked into English the way kawaii or oshi already have, and it sits at the stage of a word that fans use among themselves.