manga

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmæŋ.ɡə/^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Japanese 漫画 (manga, “cartoon, caricature”),^[2][3][4] from man, aimless, involuntary, and ga, picture,^[4][5] so literally “involuntary pictures”.^[3] The term is said to have been coined in 1814 by the artist Katsushika Hokusai to convey free-flowing composition and quirky style.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Japanese comic books and graphic novels: about 1951 in Merriam-Webster,^[4] about 1984 in Etymonline.^[3] Evans's Japanese loanwords dictionary quotes The Atlantic Monthly of 1986 on thick volumes of comics known as manga.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word came into wide English use with the spread of Japanese comics and animation (compare anime),^[3] often of a science-fiction or fantasy kind.^[7] The stories usually read from right to left, like Japanese writing.^[8]

Timeline

• 1814 – coined by Hokusai (traditionally).^[3]
• c. 1951 – manga in English.^[4]
• 1986 – quoted in The Atlantic Monthly.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Japanese comic books and graphic novels, or the style of drawing used in them.

Related words

• anime

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster also records manga, a poncho in the American Southwest, from Spanish manga, sleeve, from Latin manica.^[4] An obsolete manga was a form of mango.^[9]

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Evans, Tom (1997), A Dictionary of Japanese Loanwords, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (2009), 5th ed., Harlow: Pearson Longman
9. ^ Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press