burriko

Noun

burikko (usually uncountable, plural burikko)

1. (countable, usually) An adult woman who behaves childishly, especially a Japanese woman or a woman involved with Japanese culture.
   • While boy-crazy American girls labor at sophistication, Japanese women of marriageable age tend to act like girls, and are popularly called burikko—“pretending kids.”1989, Leila Philip, The Road through Miyama, →ISBN
2. (usually) A (Japanese) style or fashion associated with excessive or false cuteness.
   • Girls laciness is not in Japan Madonna-style lace but rather First Communion lace—but with a perky falseness sometimes called burikko, or false-innocent.1994, Merry White, The Material Child: Coming of Age in Japan and America, page 129