(uncountable) An artistic style heavily used in, and associated with, Japanese comics, and that has also been adopted by a comparatively low number of comics from other countries.
(broadly, countable, proscribed, sometimes) Any comic in such a style, regardless of the country of origin.
Borrowed from Japanese 漫画(まんが) (manga), from Middle Chinese 漫 (MC manH, “free, unrestrained”) + 畫 (MC hweaH|hweak, “drawing”). Compare Mandarin 漫畫/漫画 (mànhuà), Korean 만화 (漫畵/漫畫, manhwa). After an 1814 book by Katsushika Hokusai. Doublet of manhua and manhwa.