English words from Japanese
5 English words with Japanese in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
hooch
1. The liquor is short for hoochinoo (1877), a liquor made by the Hoochinoo or Hutsnuwu, a Tlingit people of Alaska, whose name the OED derives from Tlingit Hutsnuwu (“grizzly bear fort”). Their…
kabuki
It is borrowed from Japanese kabuki, usually written with characters meaning “song”, “dance” and “skill”, ka (“song”), bu (“dance”) and ki (“art, skill”), but originally from the verb kabuku (“to…
kamikaze
It is borrowed from Japanese 神風 (kamikaze, “divine wind”), from kami “god, divine” and kaze “wind”. It was originally the name of a typhoon that in 1281 saved Japan by destroying the invading Mongol…
rickshaw
It is a shortened form of jinrikisha (1873), which is borrowed from Japanese jinrikisha, from jin (“man”), riki (“power”) and sha (“carriage”). The elements are said to be ultimately from Chinese…
tycoon
It is borrowed from Japanese 大君 (taikun, “great lord, prince”), from Chinese words meaning “great” and “prince”.