中二病

What does 中二病 mean?

中二病 covers the moment a teenager decides they are the protagonist of a hidden story: sealed powers, a cursed fate, a name nobody else understands. Chinese speakers apply it the way English speakers say someone is going through a phase, except the diagnosis never expires. A colleague who insists the normal rules do not apply to him is 中二; a late-night post about being misunderstood collects the reply 中二病犯了. The tone is teasing, and people happily use it on their old selves when teenage posts resurface.

Where does 中二病 come from?

The term was coined by Japanese radio host Hikaru Ijuin, who used 中二病 on his late-night show in 1999 for the delusions of middle-school second-years. Chinese anime and manga fans picked it up on forums in the 2000s, and the TV anime 《中二病也要谈恋爱！》, which premiered in October 2012, carried it from fandom slang into everyday speech.

How to use 中二病

• 同桌刚上初二，张口闭口就是封印和宿命，全班都说他中二病犯了。
  Tóngzhuō gāng shàng chū'èr, zhāngkǒu bìkǒu jiù shì fēngyìn hé sùmìng, quánbān dōu shuō tā zhōng èr bìng fàn le.
  His deskmate, barely into the second year of middle school, talks about seals and destiny all day, and the whole class says his 中二病 is acting up.
• 公司团建时他非要给大家讲宇宙能量，同事笑他中二病晚期。
  Gōngsī tuánjiàn shí tā fēi yào gěi dàjiā jiǎng yǔzhòu néngliàng, tóngshì xiào tā zhōng èr bìng wǎnqī.
  At the company retreat he insisted on explaining cosmic energy to everyone, and his colleagues joked that his 中二病 was in the late stage.