Phrase guide

visual novel

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.

1

noun

Meaning 1

An interactive fiction video game of a style originated in Japan, consisting primarily of narration illustrated by anime-style images.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: video-games

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Calque of Japanese ビジュアルノベル (bijuaru noberu), from English visual + novel

Across languages

Translations

10 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 視覺小說 /视觉小说 (shìjué xiǎoshuō) — Translations
  • French: roman vidéoludique — Translations
  • French: visual novel — Translations
  • Japanese: ビジュアルノベル (bijuaru noberu) — Translations
  • Korean: 비주얼 노벨 (bijueol nobel) — Translations
  • Polish: powieść wizualna — Translations
  • Portuguese: novela visual — Translations
  • Russian: визуальная новелла (vizualʹnaja novella) — Translations
  • Spanish: novela visual — Translations
  • Swedish: visuell roman — Translations