What Does This Mean?
顔芸 (kaogei, "face art") is the Japanese term for the art of making funny or exaggerated facial expressions to amuse people, and by extension for acting that leans heavily on over-the-top facial expressions. It is also said of someone whose face looks comical even when unintended.
REAL-WORLD EXAMPLE
""The villain's 顔芸 in the finale, with bulging eyes and a twisted grin, became the most shared clip of the week.""
LORE & ORIGIN
Weblio gives two dictionary definitions: the 実用日本語表現辞典 describes 顔芸 as an art of making funny expressions that make viewers laugh, also used when someone's expression looks funny without intent, and the デジタル大辞泉 defines it as an art of making amusing faces to make people laugh. It quotes Japanese Wikipedia's 変顔 entry, which says treating the funny-face act as an art is called 顔芸. The page does not explain where the word comes from or give a date. The existing kao-nai entry is a different phrase about being too embarrassed to show one's face.
MENTIONS OVER TIME
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