What does Kimetsu No Yaiba Mean? (Demon Slayer: 鬼滅の刃)

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Kimetsu no Yaiba

Kimetsu no Yaiba also known as Demon Slayer is a Japanese Manga and Anime series. To sum up the series, it is about a teenager, Tanjiro Kamado who fights zombie-like creatures called Oni who used to be human. His sister, Nezuko, became one of these Oni, and Tanjiro is trying to find a way to turn her human again.

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That’s the basic story. So what does Kimetsu no Yaiba mean? Demon Slayer is actually pretty close. A closer translation though would be The demon-eradication Blade, Oni eliminating sword, or something close. Let’s go ahead and break down the name word-by-word.

What does Kimetsu no Yaiba mean?

The title is made up of the following three words:

  • 鬼滅 (kimetsu)
  • の (no)
  • 刃 (yaiba)

鬼滅 (kimetsu)

The first word, 鬼滅 is actually not a real word. It was made up for the series by putting together two Kanji. So, let’s break the word down more.

鬼

The first character 鬼 is pronounced ki. This character also is how you write oni in Japanese. The same word for the zombies in the story. In Japan though, an oni is actually a specific kind of creature like an ogre or demon in Japanese folklore.

滅

滅 (metsu) is the second character and can mean to eliminate, eradicate or destroy. If we put the two Kanji together we get the oni-eradicator or demon-eradicator. Pretty much the same idea as a Demon Slayer.

の (no)

の is a Japanese particle that connects words together. We can translate this from Japanese to English as the word, of.

刃 (yaiba)

Finally, 刃 (yaiba) is the word for sword-blade. Put it all together and you get The Blade of the Demon Destroyer. Or The demon-eradication Blade. Something like that. So, it pretty much translates pretty closely to Demon Slayer.

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Published by Keith