cosplay means the art or practice of costuming oneself as a (usually fictional) character. It carries an Arena rating of 1493, earned across 4 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, cosplay ranks #1,389 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #3,652 of 17,163 for Funniest Words, #5,062 of 17,127 for Most Vivid Words, #5,572 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words.
cosplay is pronounced /ˈkɒz.pleɪ/.
Why “cosplay” is a great word
The practice of meticulously dressing and performing as a specific character from fiction, particularly Japanese anime, manga, video games, or films. Borrowed from Japanese コスプレ (kosupure), a clipping of コスチュームプレイ (kosuchūmu purei), a compound of English 'costume' and 'play.' Unlike a 'masquerade,' which is a social event of costumed anonymity, or a 'historical reenactment,' which seeks documentary fidelity to real events, cosplay is a detailed, personal invocation of the fictional. It is the whir of a sewing machine at 2 a.m., the precise drape of a hand-dyed cloak on a convention floor, and the sudden, fleeting transformation in a stranger’s eyes when they recognize not you, but the spirit you have momentarily housed—a testament to the human desire not merely to witness stories, but to inhabit them.
Etymology
Borrowed from Japanese コスプレ (kosupure), which is a clipping of コスチュームプレイ (kosuchūmu purei), from a compound of English costume + play.
noun
- The art or practice of costuming oneself as a (usually fictional) character.e.g.“Men, of course, also participate in cosplay and all its attending events, but women make up the greater numbers.” — 2003, Cosplay Girls: Japan's Live Animation Heroines:
- A skit or instance of this art or practice.e.g.“Central to the activity of cosplay is elaborate costuming, though some cosplays are enacted using a game system.” — 2010, Sarah Lynne Bowman, The Functions of Role-playing Games, page 29:
verb
- To costume oneself as a character.e.g.“She cosplayed at the manga convention.”
- To costume oneself as (a character).e.g.“She cosplayed Sailor Moon at the manga convention.”
- To adopt the behavior and mannerisms of another.e.g.“Why has the Russian Federation decided to cosplay the Nazi Third Reich by attacking the peaceful neighboring state and plunging the region into war?” — 2022 March 17, Aila Slisco, “Ukrainian UN Ambassador Accuses Russians of Engaging in 'Nazi Cosplay'”, in Newsweek, retrieved 18 Mar 2022:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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