kanji

Etymology

It is borrowed from Japanese 漢字 (kanji),^[2][1][3] formed from 漢 (kan, “Chinese, literally Han”) and 字 (ji, “letter, character”).^[2][4][5][1] Both elements come from Middle Chinese,^[6][1][7] and Collins and Dictionary.com trace them to the Chinese words for the Han people, that is China, and for characters,^[8][7] together Chinese 漢字 (hànzì).^[1] The American Heritage Dictionary relates the Chinese word for "character" to the word for "child", since certain characters were said to be derived from simpler ones.^[6] Wiktionary notes that hanja and Hanzi are doublets of the word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The body of Chinese characters, borrowed and adapted, that forms the main part of the Japanese writing system: 1920, in W. M. McGovern's Colloquial Japanese.^[2] Merriam-Webster Unabridged also gives 1920,^[3] Dictionary.com 1915–20,^[7] and Etymonline 1907.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word has two closely linked senses: the whole system of Chinese-derived characters used in writing Japanese, and any single character of it.^[2][3][8] The OED and the Shorter Oxford contrast it with kana, the Japanese syllabic writing.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1920 – the system of Chinese characters used in Japanese writing, and any one of them.^[2][3] Etymonline dates the word to 1907.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The Japanese writing system made up mainly of characters borrowed or adapted from Chinese ideograms.^[8][3][2]
2. A single character of this system: He learned a hundred new kanji each month.^[8][3][2]

Related words

• hanja
• Hanzi

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins