<entry id="2288468" stat="A" corpus="jmdict" type="jmdict">
<ent_corp type="jmdict">jmdict</ent_corp>
<ent_seq>1510640</ent_seq>
<k_ele>
<keb>変</keb>
<ke_pri>ichi1</ke_pri>
<ke_pri>news1</ke_pri>
<ke_pri>nf15</ke_pri>
</k_ele>
<k_ele>
<keb>變</keb>
<ke_inf>&sK;</ke_inf>
</k_ele>
<r_ele>
<reb>へん</reb>
<re_pri>ichi1</re_pri>
<re_pri>news1</re_pri>
<re_pri>nf15</re_pri>
</r_ele>
<sense>
<pos>&adj-na;</pos>
<gloss>strange</gloss>
<gloss>odd</gloss>
<gloss>peculiar</gloss>
<gloss>weird</gloss>
<gloss>curious</gloss>
<gloss>eccentric</gloss>
<gloss>funny</gloss>
<gloss>suspicious</gloss>
<gloss>fishy</gloss>
</sense>
<sense>
<pos>&adj-na;</pos>
<gloss>unexpected</gloss>
</sense>
<sense>
<pos>&n;</pos>
<gloss>change</gloss>
</sense>
<sense>
<pos>&n;</pos>
<gloss>incident</gloss>
<gloss>disturbance</gloss>
<gloss>disaster</gloss>
<gloss>accident</gloss>
<gloss>emergency</gloss>
</sense>
<sense>
<pos>&n-pref;</pos>
<xref type="see" seq="1173600">嬰</xref>
<xref type="see" seq="1510800">変ロ短調</xref>
<field>&music;</field>
<gloss>flat</gloss>
</sense>
<info>
<audit time="2010-09-08 09:05:03" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Scott</upd_name>
<upd_diff>@@ -9,0 +9,4 @@
+&lt;/k_ele&gt;
+&lt;k_ele&gt;
+&lt;keb&gt;變&lt;/keb&gt;
+&lt;ke_inf&gt;&amp;oK;&lt;/ke_inf&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2010-09-08 12:50:12" stat="A">
<upd_uid>jwb</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Jim Breen</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
</audit>
<audit time="2014-11-29 04:40:02" stat="A">
<upd_uid>rene</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Rene Malenfant</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_diff>@@ -55 +55,2 @@
-&lt;gloss&gt;flat (music)&lt;/gloss&gt;
+&lt;field&gt;&amp;music;&lt;/field&gt;
+&lt;gloss&gt;flat&lt;/gloss&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2024-01-09 17:26:46" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Brian Krznarich</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>I mean this as a serious question.  Is it time to drop "queer" from (at least most of) our "strange"/"odd" glosses?  I actually ran into "queer" on 奇妙, but 変 is a term with 10 other options, so it feels less impactful to drop it here, so this is where I pose the question.... 

"queer" it currently attached to 18 entries(+1 for クィア=homosexual), which seems excessive to me.  I would call this "dated" at best in English, and we don't usually give dated English glosses unless the Japanese term itself is dated.  I've included Eijiro's example "queer" sentences in the refs. I can't imagine either producing, or hearing anyone produce either of those sentences.  I know perfectly well what they mean, but I wouldn't expect to see this usage outside of pretty-old or historical-themed literature.

Longman gives a gloss for "queer" of 変 or 奇妙 if you search E-&gt;J, but marks the English やや古い.  If you search in J-E for 変　or 奇妙, queer is *not* offered as an English gloss.

reverso has 3000+ examples of 変・へん.  When I ask it for "queer", first I get a popup: "Possibly Inappropriate Content. Unlock?". 
When I follow through, there is *one* example sentence.  There are 600+ translations as "strange", for comparison.

I'm not trying to be aggressive in posing this question, but I wonder who is benefiting from having "queer" on this list?  In what modern contexts should someone translate 変 as queer?  And is that something a competent translator could do on their own if they really wanted to inject a particular synonym of "strange/odd/peculiar/etc." for historical flavor?

We've mostly dropped "gay" for "happy".  I think this one should probably go as well.  I don't think it's very useful for natives anymore, and I think it contributes to non-natives inadvertently using sensitive vocabulary.

Unless there is a particular argument for keeping it associated with a particular Japanese term, I'd honestly just run through and strip it everywhere.  The fact that Longman doesn't even keep it for 奇妙 seems telling to me.</upd_detl>
<upd_refs>https://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=queer
奇妙な、珍奇な
・There's something queer going on. : 何か奇妙なことが起こっている。
・There was a queer noise whenever the door opened. : そのドアが開くといつも、奇妙な

https://ja.hinative.com/dictionaries/queer
The word "queer" isn't used much. It has two meanings, but it isn't used much for either meaning.

When you say something is queer, it means that it is strange, odd, peculiar. This meaning of "queer" is dated and is rarely used in America. It's used sometimes in the UK, but not much.

When you say a person is queer, it means that person is gay or homosexual. This usage is offensive, so it isn't used much with this meaning either.

https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/english-japanese/queer
queer1 J7 /kwɪəʳ/ [形]  
1 〘侮辱的〙 &lt;&lt;男性の同性愛者を指す侮蔑語&gt;&gt; 同意 gay
2 〘やや古〙 変な, 奇妙な   &lt;----- dated English
• It’s a queer feeling.
変な感じです．
• There’s something queer going on.
何か奇妙なことが起こっている．

=============  Note: "queer" is not provided in the reverse search for 変:
https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/japanese-english/%E5%A4%89
変な [形]
‣ odd → See English-Japanese Dictionary
‣ funny → See English-Japanese Dictionary
‣ peculiar → See English-Japanese Dictionary
‣ strange → See English-Japanese Dictionary
‣ comical → See English-Japanese Dictionary
‣ curious → See English-Japanese Dictionary
‣ unnatural → See English-Japanese Dictionary

Nor is it given for 奇妙, which is where I started(and which we also gloss as "queer"):
https://www.ldoceonline.com/dictionary/japanese-english/%E5%A5%87%E5%A6%99
‣ strange → See English-Japanese Dictionary
‣ odd → See English-Japanese Dictionary
‣ bizarre → See English-Japanese Dictionary
‣ extraordinary → See English-Japanese Dictionary
‣ funny → See English-Japanese Dictionary
‣ weird 〘インフォーマル〙 → See English-Japanese Dictionary
‣ (物が) idiosyncratic → See English-Japanese Dictionary
‣ fantastic → See English-Japanese Dictionary</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -28 +27,0 @@
-&lt;gloss&gt;queer&lt;/gloss&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
<audit time="2024-01-09 18:37:28" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>penname01</upd_name>
<upd_detl>just a little correction, "queer" doesn't mean "homosexual" and it's not always offensive or dated (the Q in LGBTQ stands for queer). it was used this way originally, but lately it just means someone not straight/cisgender. the japanese wikipedia page agrees</upd_detl>
</audit>
<audit time="2024-01-11 09:29:00" stat="A" unap="true">
<upd_name>Brian Krznarich</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>That's a good point penname01.  I didn't mean to imply that the word doesn't have a valid use, or that it is inherently offensive, or that it is strictly synonymous for "homosexual".  I was lazy in giving some references just to back up the assertion that "this is no longer a generic synonym for strange/unusual", and there may be some risks to tossing it around if you don't understand it.

I think I added 奇妙 to my flashcard deck in 2019, pasting in "strange; queer; curious​" from the glosses.  Literally every time I've seen it since, I do a double-take on the English. The use of "queer" in this way is itself so striking, for me it seems to attach a nuance to 奇妙 for me that I don't think actually exists in the Japanese term.</upd_detl>
</audit>
<audit time="2024-01-11 12:17:52" stat="A">
<upd_uid>jwb</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Jim Breen</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>Both GG5 and 中辞典 include "queer" among the glosses for 変. While I am sad that terms such as "gay" and "queer" have become so strongly associated with their modern meanings that it is risky or misleading to use them in their original contexts, I guess this is just part of the evolution of language. I think the remaining 9 glosses for our sense #1 get the message across, and there's no real reason for retaining "queer", although, IMNSHO, it is quite correct.</upd_detl>
</audit>
<audit time="2024-01-12 21:48:12" stat="A">
<upd_uid>robin1354</upd_uid>
<upd_name>Robin Scott</upd_name>
<upd_email>...address hidden...</upd_email>
<upd_detl>Tidied up PoS tags.</upd_detl>
<upd_refs>daij, meikyo, gg5
変	12,698,610	99.7%	
變	37,310	        0.3%</upd_refs>
<upd_diff>@@ -12 +12 @@
-&lt;ke_inf&gt;&amp;oK;&lt;/ke_inf&gt;
+&lt;ke_inf&gt;&amp;sK;&lt;/ke_inf&gt;
@@ -22 +21,0 @@
-&lt;pos&gt;&amp;n;&lt;/pos&gt;
@@ -35 +33,0 @@
-&lt;pos&gt;&amp;n;&lt;/pos&gt;
@@ -39 +36,0 @@
-&lt;pos&gt;&amp;adj-na;&lt;/pos&gt;
@@ -44 +40,0 @@
-&lt;pos&gt;&amp;adj-na;&lt;/pos&gt;
@@ -49,0 +46 @@
+&lt;gloss&gt;emergency&lt;/gloss&gt;
@@ -52,0 +50 @@
+&lt;xref type="see" seq="1173600"&gt;嬰&lt;/xref&gt;</upd_diff>
</audit>
</info>
</entry>