Futon,
from the Japanese 布団 (futon), first known use in 1876
In English, known as the sofa bed.
Honcho, from the Japanese : 班長 (hanchō), first known use: 1955
Sounds
like it came from Spanish, but it actually comes from the Japanese word meaning
“squad leader”.
Karaoke,
from the Japanese カラオケ (karaoke), first
known use: 1979
Not
only was karaoke invented in Japan, the name was taken straight from Japanese, kara,
meaning empty and ōke, short for ōkesutora (orchestra).
Rickshaw,
from the Japanese 人力車 (jinrikisha), first
known use: 1887
I
thought rickshaws were from China, but they were actually invented in Japan in
1869, and used in China four years later. The word, rickshaw, comes from
a corruption of the original Japanese, jinrikisha,
which literally means “human powered vehicle.”
Skosh,
from the Japanese 少し (sukoshi), first known use: 1952
Skosh,
as in “give me a skosh more” or just a little bit more, was created by
shortening the Japanese word sukoshi, which means “a little.”
Soy,
from the Japanese 醤油 (shōyu), first known use: 1679
There
are many possible origins of the word soy, but it’s thought that
the term is a corruption of the Japanese word for soy sauce, shōyu.
Tsunami,
from the Japanese 津波 (tsunami), first
known use: 1897
A
giant sea wave is called a tsunami in English, just like it is in Japanese,
although with a slightly different pronunciation. Tsunami literally
means “harbor wave” in Japanese.
Tycoon,
from the Japanese 大君 (taikun), first known use: 1857
The
title of taikun was applied by foreigners to the shogun of Japan in the
mid 1800s but the English version, tycoon, is used to describe any
wealthy or powerful person in business.
I
find all this word business very interesting!
