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I am in a Japanese 101 class. We are supposed to translate the following
sentence:

> 日本ぶんかの先生は、 **イケメン** ですが、ぜんぜんやさしくないですから、あまり好きじゃありません。

I am having trouble with that word `イケメン`. So far, I have:

> The Japanese culture professor is ______ but he/she is not lenient at all so
> I don't like him/her very much

I am pretty sure we haven't had `イケメン` in class. Also, "ikemen" doesn't sound
like an English borrowed word (at least to me).

Google translates it as "Twink" and I have found some places that say
"handsome", "cool", etc. But I don't know what to trust. Can anyone explain to
me the meaning(s) of the word?
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translation meaning
What does イケメン mean?
イケメン is a new word which means "Good looking male person".

イケ comes from イケてる which roughly translates to "cool", "good" etc. メン is a
word play, and has two meanings; メン as in "men" i.e. the English word for men,
and メン as in 面（めん） i.e. the Japanese word for "face".

It is used exclusively to refer to the physical attractiveness of males.
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2012-12-02T02:26:47.747
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It's not a loan word, it means "good looking". This illustrates a common
problem with basic Japanese teaching, they tell you that words written in
katakana are loanwords, but don't go into all the other uses of katakana
(though loanwords is the most common and 7 times out of 10 that is the case).

Specifically in this case, certain colloquial words whose kanji is
sufficiently outdated use katakana.
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As the others have said, イケメン is basically a word that describes a male as
being attractive/good-looking. Don't use this for females.

As sort of a supplement, I've also seen the word イケてる been used, which can
function as a verb too. This was in a book though, I've never heard a native
Japanese use this in normal conversation, but it may help you get a feel for
the usage of イケ.

```

    このプロット結構イケてると思う。
    I think this plot is quite 'cool'.
    
```

**EDIT**

Ah, hadn't seen Enno's anwer describing イケてる yet. Guess you got the question
covered now ;)
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2012-12-02T03:06:57.273
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Ikemen is "handsome guy". But from first hand experience, not just any type of
handsome. Think the kind of Hiroshi Abe (or Brad Pitt). So I wouldn't use this
for the Korean mop-hair gayish types.
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As for the actual meaning of the word, look no further than @Enno Shioji's
answer. As a sidenote,

「ブサメン」— A male with unfortunate looks.

  * Etymology: 不細工 ( **ブサ** イク) _ugly_ + ( **メン** ) same as _イケメン_

「フツメン」— A male with average looks.

  * Etymology: 普通 ( **フツ** ウ) _average_ + ( **メン** ) same as _イケメン_

* * *

I will add that in Japan, social caste is determined by _how good looking (or
not) you are_. This is true to some degree in most of the world, but this is
especially the case in Japan.

For example, you might getting bullied for being ugly. Even worse, if you are
working for a company, you will get hired / get promotions based on how good
looking or ugly your face is. It is sad, but it is the truth.
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I agree with all of these answers, but would add that the attractive maleness
being described by ikemen would be like how guys look in J-pop and K-pop
bands. It's a beautiful handsomeness. The distinction is a weird one, but I
think it's important. In English. When you use the word "handsome," it can
imply what we in the west think of as "manliness", but in Asia men can be good
looking AND beautiful. "Beautiful" isn't something most western men want to be
thought of as. But in Japan, masculinity and also be lovely. This can be seen
a lot in Anime, right?

A cute place I've seen this word used was on an episode of the anime Beast
Saga, when a white cat male character gets insulted by an enemy, and argues
back "ORE WA IKEMEN DESU" He yells it back several times, and the joke is how
desperately he wants to be seen as beautiful.
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