koi no yokan

Logophile77 commented on the word koi no yokan

The sudden knowledge upon meeting someone that the two of you are destined to fall in love.

Unlike the phrase “love at first sight” Koi No Yokan doesn’t mean that the feeling of love is already there when meeting someone, rather this describes the concept of feeling like love is inevitable. It’s looking at someone and feeling those sparks that a deeper romantic connection is possible.

https://thoughtcatalog.com/koty-neelis/2014/11/23-untranslatable-foreign-words-that-describe-love-better-than-you-ever-thought/

Literally, "Love's premonition"

Koi: love

No: possessive particle (Japanese have a word for possession unlike English which uses an apostrophe).

Yokan: Premonition. Note: a slightly differnent alternative translation of yokan is "presentment."

It means meeting someone and knowing early on that the two of you will fall in love.

恋の予感 "koi no yokan"

In English there's no equivalent to Japanese word 恋 "koi."

There's an English phrase "love at first sight." This stage is similar to 恋 "koi." As you know the stage of "Love at first sight" is not actual love (yet). We call this step as 恋 "koi" in Japanese. If their romance continues and reaches to the next step, 恋 "koi" might grow into 愛 "love." Japanese language clearly defines the first step and the second.

予感 "yokan" could be different meaning with an adjective: good or bad. English words like premonition or presentiment are mostly a bad prediction. But Japanese word 予感 "yokan" is neutral.

When two words are combined as 恋の予感 "koi no yokan," we can sense speaker's heart beat and excitement. The speaker is hopeful about being more than a friend with him or her.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-translation-into-English-of-koi-no-yokan

January 15, 2018