Lingo Kaiava

What does "後輩" mean?kouhai

Junior — anyone who started after you.

Language
🇯🇵 Japanese
Romaji
KOH-hai
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How it's actually used

If someone is your senpai, you are their kouhai. It is less used as direct address than senpai — you rarely call someone 後輩 to their face — and more a way of describing a relationship: 後輩に教える, teaching your juniors.

Examples

Where it comes from

The mirror of 先輩: 後 (after) replacing 先 (before).

Before you say it

Describes, rather than addresses. Calling someone 後輩 directly can sound like you are putting them in their place.

Now actually use it out loud

Reading a definition isn't the same as saying it to someone. Lingo Kaiava is a voice tutor set to Japanese — it uses 後輩 the way locals do, corrects you in the moment, and never "fixes" the way real people actually talk into textbook Japanese.

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