other N2 common casualpolitewritten

いわゆる — so-called / what is known as ~

いわゆる

Meaning

so-called / what is known as / what we call ~ — flags the following noun as a recognized term or common label

彼かれはいわゆる天才てんさいだ。

He is what you'd call a genius.

Attaches to	Form	Example
Noun (a label or category name)	いわゆる + Noun	いわゆる先進国せんしんこく / いわゆるブラック企業きぎょう

When: Pre-noun modifier (連体詞); it never conjugates and cannot stand alone or take particles.

これがいわゆる五月病ごがつびょうというものだ。

This is what's known as 'May sickness.'

彼女かのじょはいわゆるエリートコースを歩あゆんできた。

She has walked what people call the elite path.

Often introduces a term the speaker treats as common knowledge or a stock label, sometimes with mild distance ('the so-called ~'). Built from the classical passive of 言いう, literally 'that which is said.'

Jengo shows いわゆる the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.

Sources Compiled with reference to A Dictionary of Advanced Japanese Grammar.