dojo

Etymology

It is borrowed from Japanese 道場 (dōjō),^[2][3][4][1] formed from the words for "way" or "art" and for "place".^{[3][5][6][7][4]} Etymonline notes that the Japanese word has a wider sense and is said to mean "place of the Way".^[8] Collins and Dictionary.com give its Japanese senses as a Buddhist seminary or a drill hall, and derive it from a Chinese rendering of a Sanskrit term meaning "seat of wisdom";^[9][10] the American Heritage Dictionary traces its second part to Middle Chinese.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A room or hall in which judo is practised: 1942, in P. Longhurst's Jiu-Jitsu.^[2][3][8] Barnhart dates it to probably before 1942.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word was soon used for halls where other martial arts, such as karate, are practised.^[5][4] From 1966 it was also used for the padded mat on which judo is practised, in full dojo mat.^[2]

Timeline

• 1942 – a hall for practising judo.^[2][3][8]
• 1966 – a padded mat for judo.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A school, room or hall for training in martial arts such as judo or karate.^[3][9][5]
2. A padded mat, or area of mats, used for such training.^[2][5]

Related words

• judo
• aikido

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster Unabridged has a separate dojo, an East Asian loach kept in aquariums, from a different Japanese word.^[3][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House