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I was in a Chinese forum for manga fans and I saw a user who introduced himself saying this sentence:
一个普通的《X》厨
Going by the context, I understand 厨 here means something like "fan of X", but I would like further information about the way Chinese people use this word and what it means to them. The dictionary only has "kitchen" and "cupboard" as meanings in English.
Japanese
Etymology
Derived by replacing the 中 (chū, “middle [school]”) with 厨 (chū, “freak; nerd”).
厨二病 (hiragana ちゅうにびょう, rōmaji chūnibyō)
Alternative spelling of 中二病
This usage of 厨 here came from Japanese 'ちゅう' (kanji: 厨 ). Which means "freak or nerd"
"XX 厨" = "XX nerd" or "XX freak". Anime and manga fans would be familiar with this term
Other Japanese terms imported to Chinese via manga (mostly circulated among manga readers in written form)
"XX 醬" = "XX 小妹妹" (Dear little XX)
"XX 宅" = "XX obsessed" e.g. "軍事宅" means "a person obsessed with military"
In Japanese:
厨 (chu)
sounds the same as the first character of
中毒 (chudoku)
And 中毒 means sickly loves sb/sth. So "XX厨" basically means 'someone who sickly loves XX'. E.g. I'm a Gakki厨. I would do anything for her, including suicide.
I am not so sure about the details on how this word originated. Of course it is the a loanword from Japanese, and it is a substitution of 中, but I am not so sure which exact word that including 中. In 萌百 it says from the word 中坊(Japanese) that means middle school, which is the same as Tang's answer because the 中 in 中二 means middle school.
But the usage is very clear. X厨 means insane fan(s) of X. The focus is the "insane" part. In the beginning it is a negative word. Some one accuse others to be too crazy about an idol/work. But later on it is used by the fans themselves indicating that they enjoy the idol/work so much and would like to be crazy.
For now, it is tend to be a neutral word, and just means "fan" and less stress on the "insane" part, but be careful that this usage is only when speaking of oneself. If you say "I am a X厨." It can mean merely "I am a (normal) fan of X", or "I sickly love X." (as Kevin's answer said) But if you say "This guy is a X厨." it is somewhat offensive.
一个普通的《X》厨
I might be wrong. My first impression is that it can be analogous to 她还是个"厨", meaning she is still virgin. So, I might think 一个普通的《X》厨 means he/she doesn't have much experience or knowledge about 《X》( not as much knowledge/experience as a normal fun has).
