ディスる
でぃする
disuru
= to diss / disrespect / put down / trash-talk someone
ディスる (disuru) is the word Japanese speakers reach for the moment they want to call out an insult directly — it’s the sound of English hip-hop slang landing in everyday Japanese conversation and staying there.
ディスる is built from the English word (dis)respect, shortened to disu, and welded onto the Japanese verb ending る — the same trick used to turn foreign words into fully functional Japanese verbs. Because it ends in る, it behaves like an ordinary godan verb: it conjugates into past tense as disutta (dissed), into passive as disurareru (to get dissed), and into progressive as disutteru (is dissing / is being dissed about). It covers anything from a sarcastic jab between friends to a full-on online callout, and the noun form disu (a diss) works on its own, as in “sore wa hidoi disu” (that’s a harsh diss). The word entered Japanese through hip-hop and rap battle culture in the 1990s-2000s and has since spread well beyond music into ordinary youth slang.
Conjugate it like any godan る-verb: disuru (dictionary form) → disutta (dissed) → disurareru (to get dissed, passive) → disutteru (is dissing). This loanword-plus-る pattern isn’t unique to ディスる — you’ll see the same move in guguru (to google something) and saboru (to skip/skive off, from French sabotage). Keep ディスる strictly casual: among friends, in comments, in texting. For a news report or a formal essay, reach for 批判する (hihan suru, to criticize) instead — 批判する is a reasoned, often public critique of an idea or action, while ディスる is personal, snarky, and aimed at a person.
Everyday use
え、今のツッコミ、完全に俺のことディスってるでしょ。
E, ima no tsukkomi, kanzen ni ore no koto disutteru desho.
Hey, that comeback was totally dissing me, wasn’t it?
Casual / Social Media
あのインフルエンサー、また他のユーチューバーをディスってて炎上してる。
Ano infuruensā, mata hoka no yūchūbā o disuttete enjō shiteru.
That influencer is dissing another YouTuber again and it’s blowing up into a whole controversy online.
Formal / Cultural context
SNSで有名人をディスるのと、記事で政策を批判するのとでは、意味も重みも全く違う。
SNS de yūmeijin o disuru no to, kiji de seisaku o hihan suru no to de wa, imi mo omomi mo mattaku chigau.
Dissing a celebrity on social media and formally criticizing a policy in an article carry completely different weight and meaning.
ディスる belongs to a small, distinctive club of Japanese verbs built by grafting an English word onto the native verb ending る, instantly turning a foreign noun into something that conjugates exactly like a native Japanese verb. Guguru (to google) and saboru (to slack off, originally from the French sabotage) work the same way, and once a word joins this club, native speakers stop thinking of it as foreign at all — it simply becomes a verb like any other, complete with past tense, passive voice, and progressive forms.
ディスる specifically rode in on Japan’s hip-hop and rap battle scene, where dissing a rival on the mic was a core part of the culture long before it crossed over. As Japanese hip-hop grew from a subculture into mainstream youth entertainment, the verb followed the same path, moving from rap lyrics and freestyle battles into ordinary conversation, comment sections, and group chats, where it now describes any pointed put-down — no microphone required.