Words brought into Japanese from languages other than Chinese.
16
votes
2answers
402 views
When and how did USA and UK come to be written as [米]{べい}[国]{こく} and [英]{えい}[国]{こく}?
I know of four countries with a specific kanji besides Japan: China, the Netherlands, the USA and UK. The last two must be quite recent (I presume 19th century) but I wonder on the details and context ...
15
votes
4answers
580 views
Since Japanese already had several words for rice why was “ライス” (raisu) borrowed from English?
Last night I had dinner in a ramen restaurant in northern Japan and was surprised to read the katakana "ライス" (raisu) on the menu. This is obviously the English word "rice" borrowed. But what kind of ...
15
votes
4answers
747 views
Who decides what katakana will be used to form English loan words?
I love katakana, mostly because of how the characters look. But I am constantly baffled by why certain loan words from English are constructed using certain katakana sounds.
For example, if someone ...
13
votes
2answers
327 views
Where does the word ダイヤ come from that means “train schedule”?
For the longest time I've been hearing the word ダイヤ and just always assumed it meant "Diamond", but found recently it all means "train schedule". My question is, what word/language did this word ...
13
votes
4answers
585 views
Are wasei-eigo and wasei-kango looked down upon?
Is wasei-eigo or wasei-kango looked down upon by Japanese language purists (as opposed to English or Chinese purists!) as informal, inauthentic, incorrect or the like?
12
votes
3answers
340 views
Why is “Xy” pronounced as “Ki Shi” in Xylitol「キシリトール」?
Why is "Xy" pronounced as "[Ki Shi]{キ シ}" in [Xylitol]{キシリトール}?
I believe "Xy" can pronounced as "Zai", which is probably a valid sound in Japanese.
I would like to know its etymology too, if there ...
12
votes
2answers
292 views
What is the meaning and root of 意味くじピーマン?
Recently a friend of mine threw the term 意味くじピーマン (imi kuji pi-man) into a story she was telling, and it totally threw me off. At first I thought, because I wasn't sure how to parse the くじ part, it ...
12
votes
2answers
376 views
What is the more common pronunciation for the romaji letter 'Z' in Japanese?
I was on the phone with NTT the other day and things were going well (or as good as they could), until I had to spell some email address for the customer rep, and fell upon the letter 'Z'.
...
12
votes
3answers
240 views
Is パートナー likely to be interpreted as a same-sex partner?
When I talked about a relative and his パートナー visiting for Christmas, the person I was speaking to asked if his パートナー was male. Is this a common interpretation of パートナー? Is there a better word than ...
11
votes
4answers
553 views
Are there any old loanwords from Korean, especially any not written in katakana?
Given the close proximity and long history of interaction of various kinds within East Asia, the great influence of Chinese in both Japanese and Korean, and the similar structures of Japanese and ...
11
votes
5answers
135 views
ユーザ or ユーザー, which is more in use or is there no difference?
ユーザ or ユーザー, which is more in use or is there no difference?
I see both of them in use, but is there one that is more correct than the other or is at least the prevailing standard?
a similar word is ...
11
votes
2answers
322 views
Are foreign adjectives always な adjectives?
Sitting in a restaurant yesterday I saw a sign advertising a mango flavoured bagel. It was described as トロピカルな味.
That just got me wondering... whenever a 外来語【がいらいご】(word taken from a foreign language ...
10
votes
5answers
585 views
Native word for “pen”
Is there a native, non-loanword for "pen" (the writing instrument)? Or is there only 「ペン」?
There is one for "pencil" (鉛筆), one for "ruler" (定規), one for "paper" (紙) and even though the one for ...
9
votes
1answer
219 views
Is かわいい wago or kango?
かわいい is sometimes spelled in kanji as 可愛い. This seems to be an 音読み reading which points to a Chinese loan, and Chinese does have this word.
However, the meaning of 可愛 as "cute" in Chinese seems to ...
9
votes
2answers
272 views
What is the breakdown of countries where loan words originate?
Is there any general idea of what percentage of loan words come from which languages? I always thought the majority of them came from English, but I keep seeing more and more that originated in ...
9
votes
1answer
220 views
Why did オレンジ replace 橙【だいだい】?
This question about colours got me thinking:
Why, and how, did オレンジ come to replace 橙【だいだい】 to refer to the colour orange?
It seems weird to me that a 外来語【がいらいご】(word taken from a foreign language) ...
8
votes
4answers
467 views
What changes are made to the pronunciation of gairaigo?
What changes are usually made to the pronounciation of gairaigo?
I notice that vowels are often added between multiple consonants and to the end of words (eg "programmer" => "puroguramaa" (プログラマー)), ...
8
votes
2answers
315 views
Would I have 牛乳 or ミルク with my cereal?
I've just found out that there's a couple of words for milk, and that they have slightly different meanings. Which one would I have with my Weetbix in a "viking style" breakfast in Niseko?
Based on ...
8
votes
1answer
115 views
question about kanji sports names 蹴球, 籠球, 庭球, and 野球
A few questions about these words. The words [蹴球]{しゅうきゅう}, [籠球]{ろうきゅう}, and [庭球]{ていきゅう} mean football, basketball, and tennis, respectively. But I have only seen them in a dictionary, and in practice ...
8
votes
2answers
217 views
How did コンセント come to be used for “outlet”?
Saw this on a charger I bought online and was really perplexed. What foreign word does it represent? "concentric"? What does that have to do with outlet and where did it come from?
8
votes
2answers
242 views
How do you classify a word like “電子レンジ”?
This recent question introduced me to the concepts of 外来語【がいらいご】, defined as foreign words not originating from Chinese, and 和製英語【わせいえいご】, which are English constructions that were made in Japan.
...
8
votes
1answer
203 views
Term for multiple foreign words sharing the same loanword in Japanese?
Is there a term that describes multiple foreign words sharing the same Japanese-language loanword?
For example, Wikipedia's disambiguation page for フォーク (Romaji: foku) covers both the English word ...
8
votes
1answer
267 views
does 「なう」have effeminate connotations?
I often get text messages from people who use the twitter-derived slang 「なう」 to mean "now." As in 「電車なう」meaning "(I am on the) train now."
However, these mainly come from women, and one gay dude. Is ...
8
votes
1answer
164 views
Is there any gairaigo based on Australian English?
Has any Australian English become incorporated into Japanese as gairaigo? Or would most Japanese people only be exposed to Australian English from Australian-made shows such as "The Crocodile Hunter"?
...
7
votes
6answers
289 views
Different transcriptions for words with related origin
Sometimes, a single foreign word or etymologically related words from different dialects/related languages is/are incorporated into Japanese with different transcriptions/pronouncations and often ...
7
votes
5answers
768 views
Chinese words in Japanese
I have heard that Japanese has the largest number of words of any language because every Chinese word can also be a Japanese word. Is there any truth to this statement?
7
votes
2answers
522 views
Why is the Japanese currency pronounced “yen” in English?
I'm wondering what the reason for the mispronunciation of 円 in English came to be "yen". I can understand how some words like 東京 became "Tokyo", but "en" to "yen" seems strange. On a side note, why is ...
7
votes
5answers
353 views
Less-approximate and more-approximate forms of loan words
When Japanese incorporates a Western word, especially English, often the spelling rather than the pronunciation is respected in the transcription, thus, ending up with a transcription that is not the ...
7
votes
3answers
337 views
Are there any common Japanese words which were borrowed from Ainu or other indigenous languages?
I know plenty of Japanese words that came from English and a few from other European languages (obviously tons from Chinese), but what about words from Japan's indigenous languages such as Ainu? Also ...
7
votes
3answers
602 views
外来語 (gairaigo) replaced by Japanese word?
Are there cases where gairaigo used in every day speech (パン, アイスクリーム, etc...) have been ousted by native Japanese words?
7
votes
1answer
217 views
Why is Jordan (the country) spelt ヨルダン?
I recently found out that Jordan (the country) is spelt ヨルダン, not ジョーダン, which is how it's spelt in a person's name.
Is this based on how it's pronounced in Arabic and/or Hebrew, or how it's ...
6
votes
7answers
593 views
Why are the katakana important to learn?
I've just started, and everything says learn your hiragana and katakana first.
The hiragana, very clear. I guess you can say an awful lot of things in Japanese with hiragana. But everything I've been ...
6
votes
4answers
581 views
What went wrong when I asked for a 衡器{こうき}?
I was in Bikku Camera earlier today, and I wanted to buy a small kitchen scale for measuring small amounts of food.
I looked up the word "scale" in the dictionary, and it said 衡器{こうき}. So I found a ...
6
votes
2answers
183 views
Is there a generally accepted “rule” for truncating loan words?
I've noticed that sometimes loan words (usually pairs) are truncated to just the first two morae from each word:
Smash Brothers ➤ スマッシュブラザーズ ➤ スマブラ
"Don't mind." ➤ ドンマイ
I assume this is ...
6
votes
2answers
185 views
How does ウァ differ from ワ and ヴァ?
I know Wine is written as ワイン. I've also seen Whiskey as ウィスキー. In both english words, the 'w' sound are relatively similar (although slightly different).
I'm assuming ウァ would be somewhat like ワ.
But ...
6
votes
3answers
204 views
How to read words like テスト with ordinal numbers?
Consider this:
テスト１, テスト２, テスト３ etc. (Taken from my exercise books. The tests are labelled as such up to 30)
(Question) Should numbers that are used with loanwords like テスト be read with いち, に, ...
6
votes
1answer
133 views
What is the origin of エンターティナー
Some people use the word エンターティナー to mean 'entertainer'. I suspect this word comes from the English word entertainer. But the accented vowel is "ei", rather than "i". It would be a better ...
6
votes
1answer
233 views
Katakana words with Kanji. How did that happen?
Some words are written with katakana, but also have kanji. For example:
コーヒー 珈琲
ページ 頁
How did this happen? They are loanwords, but no doubt had Japanese equivalents before these variants were ...
5
votes
3answers
156 views
How often does gairaigo get bikago?
How often does gairaigo get bikago?
おトイレ is mentioned by Wiktionary, and Wikipedia mentions it being used ironically in o-kokakōra, but I haven't come across any others.
One case where its absence ...
5
votes
3answers
173 views
Is タオル used for the towels used at onsen?
onsenjapan.net claims that タオル is used for "towel", presumably the large one. When I asked a staff member at Odeo onsen "これ は 何 ですか?" while indicating the large towel I was holding, the staff member ...
5
votes
1answer
146 views
しゅうと／シュート - The great equalizer
I was watching the movie Mr. Baseball the other day. Several times during the movie they talk about しゅうと which they describe as "the great equalizer". (Could possibly be しゅうとう, but their dialog does ...
4
votes
1answer
143 views
Does 被【かぶ】る have any relation to “cover”?
Topic. I've heard/seen somewhere that 被【かぶ】る was "gairaigo-fied" (?) from the English word "cover" (similar to ダブる or デモる), and then presumably given ateji from 被【おお】う since the meanings overlap so ...
3
votes
2answers
203 views
Pronunciation of W
I often see the alphabet W being transcribed or pronounced as "ダブル" rather than "ダブリュー" in Japanese, and I think that in most cases, that was not what was meant. Indeed, there seems to be a practice ...
3
votes
1answer
150 views
Is メリー mainly used in the set phrase メリークリスマス?
Is the gairaigo メリー mainly used in the set phrase メリークリスマス (Merry Christmas!) or can it be used without the クリスマス to mean "merry", such as 私はメリーです to say "I am feeling merry"?
There's also メリーゴーランド ...
3
votes
1answer
66 views
What is the origin of イレーザー?
There is a word イレーザー, which means 'eraser'. I suspect this comes from the English word eraser. But the "s" sound in eraser is not voiced in American English, and a closer approximation in kana will ...
3
votes
1answer
214 views
Is “ガール” (gāru) now considered a Japanese word? What about “ガールズ” (gāruzu)?
In my wanderings around Japan giving my kana knowledge some practice I've noticed both the words "ガール" (gāru) and "ガールズ" (gāruzu) in use at least in signage. Obviously they are borrowed from English ...
2
votes
1answer
191 views
Why aren't マンション mansions? Or are they?
And no, this isn't about property sizes in Japan!
As Katakana Mysteries: 6 loan words Japan got wrong put it:
Bill Gates or Warren Buffet might be very surprised if they were to
buy a Japanese ...
2
votes
1answer
135 views
Is one transcription of “Andrew” more standard than another?
I recently looked at the disambiguation page for Andrew on the Japanese Wikipedia, and found that there were several "アンドルー"s, and several "アンドリュー"s.
I couldn't discern any trend that one form ...
0
votes
0answers
251 views
What is Boruto Tekusuchaa? [closed]
What is Boruto Tekusuchaa? It is kind of a dress. That is all I know. can someone help with identifying it? I think it has some sort of tibetian influence.
