sakura

Etymology

It is borrowed from Japanese 桜 (sakura).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]}

Earliest recorded meaning

A flowering cherry tree of Japan: 1884, in a translation of J. J. Rein's Japan.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The OED applies the word to any of the many varieties of flowering cherry bred from species of Prunus, and also to their blossom and wood.^[2][3] Evans's dictionary of Japanese loanwords quotes English writers of the 1980s and 1990s on the cherry blossom as a reminder of the shortness of life, on the news of its blooming each spring, and on the wood used in lacquerware.^[5]

Timeline

• 1884 – a Japanese flowering cherry tree; also its blossom or wood.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A Japanese flowering cherry tree, one of many varieties of Prunus, especially of Prunus serrulata.^[2][3][4][5]
2. The blossom of such a tree.^[2][5]
3. The wood of such a tree.^[2][3][5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c d e f g Evans, Tom (1997), A Dictionary of Japanese Loanwords, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com