Rebecca Lin
The Japanese language has borrowed many words from other languages, beginning with China during the Nara Period (710-794). Gairaigo (外来語) is the Japanese word for “borrowed word” or “loaned word.” Japanese has adopted so many Chinese vocabulary that they are no longer regarded as “loan words.” The bulk of Chinese loan terms have a Chinese reading and are written in kanji .
Japanese speakers use English words to convey ideas for which they have no native counterparts. However, some people simply favour using English expressions out of necessity or just because it’s trendy. In fact, Japanese already has synonyms for many loan words. For example, the Japanese word for “business” is “shoubai 商売”, but the loan word “bijinesu ビジネス” is also used. Another example is “gyuunyuu 牛乳(Japanese word)” and “miruku ミルク(loan word)” for “milk.”
Loan words, with the exception of those with Chinese roots, are usually written in katakana. They are pronounced according to Japanese pronunciation rules and syllables. They end up sounding very different from how they were initially said. As a result, it becomes challenging to distinguish the original foreign word.
Many borrowed words are frequently shortened in ways that they wouldn’t be shortened in their native tongues.
Examples of Loan Words
- Maiku マイク —- microphone
- Suupaa スーパー —- supermarket
- Depaato デパート — department store
- Biru ビル —- building
- Irasuto イラスト —- illustration
- Meeku メーク —- make-up
- Daiya ダイヤ —- diamond
Multiple words are also shortened, often to four syllables.
- Pasokon パソコン —- personal computer
- Waapuro ワープロ —- word processor
- Amefuto アメフト —- American football
- Puroresu プロレス —- professional wrestling
- Konbini コンビニ —- convenience store
- Eakon エアコン —- air conditioning
- Masukomi マスコミ —- mass media (from mass communication)
A loan word might generate new words. Japanese or other loanwords may be used in combination with it. Here are some examples.
- Shouene 省エネ —- energy saving
- Shokupan 食パン —- loaf of bread
- Keitora 軽トラ —- light commercial truck
- Natsumero なつメロ —- a once-popular song
In Japanese, loan words are frequently joined to form nouns. They turn the term into a verb when paired with “suru.” “Suru” (to do) has a wide range of other uses.
- Doraibu suru ドライブする —- to drive
- Kisu suru キスする —- to kiss
- Nokku suru ノックする —- to knock
- Taipu suru タイプする —- to type
There are also “loan words” that are actually made in Japan. For example, “sarariiman サラリーマン(salary man)” refers to someone whose income is salary base, generally the people work for corporations. Another example, “naitaa ナイター,” comes from the English word “night” followed by “~er”, means baseball games played at night.
Common Loan Words
- Arubaito アルバイト —- part-time job (from German arbeit)
- Enjin エンジン —- engine
- Gamu ガム —- chewing gum
- Kamera カメラ —- camera
- Garasu ガラス —- glass
- Karendaa カレンダー —- calendar
- Terebi テレビ —- television
- Hoteru ホテル —- hotel
- Resutoran レストラン —- restaurant
- Macchi マッチ —- match
- Mishin ミシン —- sewing machine
- Ruuru ルール —- rule
- Reji レジ —- cash register
Nationality is expressed by adding “jin 人”, which literally means “person”, after the country name.
- Amerika-jin アメリカ人—- American
- Itaria-jin イタリア人 —- Italian
- Oranda-jin オランダ人—- Dutch
- Kanada-jin カナダ人—– Canadian
- Supein-jin スペイン人—- Spanish
- Doitsu-jin ドイツ人—- Germany
- Furansu-jin フランス人—- French
| Loanword | Roma-ji / Reading | English Word |
| グラス | gurasu | glass |
| スプーン | supūn | spoon |
| フォーク | fōku | fork |
| ナイフ | naifu | knife |
| ビール | bīru | beer |
| ワイン | wain | wine |
| バス | basu | bus |
| バイク | baiku | (motor) bike |
| コンピューター | conpyūtā | computer |
| インターネット | intānetto | internet |
| ウェブサイト | webusaito | website |
| ホテル | hoteru | hotel |
| レストラン | resutoran | restaurant |
| テーブル | tēburu | table |
| サービス | sābisu | service |
| エレベーター | erebētā | elevator |
| ドア | doa | door |
| サイズ | saizu | size |
| シャツ | shatsu | shirt |
| ネクタイ | nekutai | necktie |
| サンダル | sandaru | sandal |
| サングラス | sangurasu | sunglasses |
| テスト | tesuto | test |
English words used in Japanese (2021) JapanesePod101.com Blog. Available at: https://www.japanesepod101.com/blog/2021/05/13/english-loanwords-in-japanese/ (Accessed: November 30, 2022).
Takashi Ichikawa, et al. (1998). Sanseidō New Modern Dictionary (三省堂現代新国語辞典, Sanseidō-gendai-shin-kokugo-jiten), Tokyo, Japan: Sanseido Co., Ltd. ISBN 4-385-14034-0.
Hi Rebecca,
Thanks for the post! Most Japanese speakers do distinguish the nuances of usage though. For instance, bijinesu is not the same as shoubai because the latter is more related to mercantile sales, which doesn’t work for other types of business such as advertisement, etc. Gyuunyuu is cow milk, but miruku can also refer to veg milk-like products, etc. In other words, it’s much more than vagaries of cosmopolitanism that dictate the choices of loan words vs native vocab.
Sam Lyn
Hi Rebecca,
Thank you for this wonderful post!
These Japanese borrowed words are excellent examples of contact language. Some of them may be very familiar to us, and as a result, it may be difficult to recognise that they are actually borrowed from the English language.
Di Niu
Hi Rebecca,
I had also been interested in the fun fact that Japanese had borrowed a lot of words from English, for example when I was watching the Japanese episode Hana Yori Dango (Boys Over Flowers, means beautiful boys), I noticed that they said “flower” not in Japanese but in borrowed word of English as “plower”. It was written in Japanese, but sounded very much like English. And also, they say “computer” as “computale”, which is a similar example.
In addition, I had also noticed one word they borrowed from German. It is the word for “work”. In German, it’s “arbeit”, and in Japanese they say it as “arbeito”.
So sounds like Japanese is a language more close to a pidgin, as it has so many words from Chinese or transformed into a variation with an origin from Chinese.