BL glossary

BL: Boys' love. Romance fiction about relationships between men. See What is BL?
Danmei: Chinese-language BL, mostly novels. See What is danmei?
Manga, manhwa, manhua: Comics from Japan, Korea and China. See the format guide.
Webtoon: A comic made for phones, in colour, read by scrolling down. Most Korean comics are webtoons.
Donghua: Chinese animation.
Audio drama: A voiced adaptation, like a radio play. Common for popular Chinese and Japanese titles.
Seme and uke: Japanese fan terms for the pursuing and the pursued partner in a couple, often also meaning top and bottom.
Gong and shou: The Chinese equivalents of seme and uke.
Omegaverse: A shared setting with alphas, betas and omegas. See What is omegaverse?
Xianxia: Chinese fantasy about immortals and cultivation. See the xianxia shelf.
Wuxia: Chinese martial-arts adventure, with fighters and sects but without gods and immortality.
Cultivation: In xianxia, the practice of training body and spirit to gain power and long life.
Shizun: A respectful Chinese word for one's master or teacher in a cultivation sect.
Transmigration: A character's mind lands in another body or another world, often inside a novel or game they know.
Rebirth or regression: A character dies and wakes up earlier in their own life, with their memories intact.
System: A game-like voice or interface that gives a transmigrated character missions and penalties.
Slow burn: A romance that takes a long time to get going.
Hurt/comfort: One character suffers and another looks after them.
18+ and 19+: Adult ratings. Korean platforms use 19+, and some sell a toned-down 15+ edition of the same series.
Licensed: Published in English with the rights holder's permission, so the creators are paid. Every link on this site goes to a licensed source.
Scanlation: A fan-made translation posted without permission. We do not link to these.