katana

Etymology

It is borrowed from Japanese 刀 (katana, “single-edged sword”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The American Heritage Dictionary traces the Japanese word to Old Japanese, as a compound of the words for "opposite side, one of a pair" and "blade",^[6] and Evans likewise analyses it as "one side" and "blade".^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A long, single-edged sword of the Japanese samurai: 1613, in John Saris's journal of his voyage to Japan,^[2][7] in the anglicized form cattan.^[8] Etymonline dates the word to the 1610s.^[3]

Semantic evolution

After the anglicized cattan of the early 17th century the word is not recorded again until the late 19th century, when it reappears in the Japanese form katana;^[8] Evans's first record of that form is from 1874.^[7] Merriam-Webster describes the katana as the longer of the pair of swords worn by the samurai,^[5] and Chambers and Collins as slightly curved.^[9][4]

Timeline

• 1613 – a Japanese samurai sword, in the form cattan.^[2][8][7]
• 1874 – the form katana.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A long, slightly curved sword with a single edge, the longer of the two swords traditionally worn by the Japanese samurai.^[4][5][2][9]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
5. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
7. ^ a b c d e Evans, Tom (1997), A Dictionary of Japanese Loanwords, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press
8. ^ a b c Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b The Chambers Dictionary (2008), 11th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap