Gairaigo are Japanese words originating from, or based on, foreign-language (generally Western) terms. These include wasei-eigo (Japanese pseudo-anglicisms). Many of these loanwords derive from Portuguese, due to Portugal's early role in Japanese-Western interaction; Dutch, due to the Netherlands' relationship with Japan amidst the isolationist policy of sakoku during the Edo period; and from French and German, due to France and Germany's cultural and scientific prominence during Japan's modernization in the Meiji period.
However, most come from English, the dominant world language today. Due to the large number of western concepts imported into Japanese culture during modern times, there are thousands of these English borrowings. These English words are informally referred to as having been "Nipponized". A few of them, such as "salaryman", have nevertheless been borrowed into English together with their Japanese meanings.
Japanese vocabulary also includes large numbers of words from Chinese, borrowed at various points throughout history. However, since the Japanese language has such strong historical ties to the Chinese language, these loans are not generally considered gairaigo.
Many loanwords are in fact pseudo-borrowings: despite their links to foreign language words, the word forms as used in modern Japanese are not used in the same way in their languages of origin. In fact, many such terms, despite their similarity to the original foreign words, are not easily understood by speakers of those languages (e.g. left over as a baseball term for a hit that goes over the left-fielder's head, rather than uneaten food saved for a later meal as in English—or famikon (ファミコン, from "family computer"), which actually refers to the Nintendo Entertainment System).
Due to the extent of Japanese borrowings, particularly from English, this list focuses mainly on pseudo-borrowings and commonly used loanwords from languages other than English (which are often mistaken for English words in Japan). Most loanwords (and all modern loans) are transcribed in katakana, a Japanese syllabary. Older loans may be written using ateji, with Kanji used to represent their phonetic readings without necessarily inheriting their meaning. In words composed of both a loan and native Japanese, the Japanese can function as a morpheme within a compound (and would generally be written in Kanji if possible), or can be attached to the foreign word to inflect or otherwise modify it, as if it were okurigana (which is written in hiragana).
animation, animated cartoons or films (although anime has been reborrowed into English with a meaning of "Japanese animation", in Japanese the term refers to all animation)
apartment (US), flat (UK), though apāto are usually in small two-story wood-structure buildings, not multistory complexes as in the US usage (see manshon loanword)
English (US)
アポ
apo
appo(intment)
appointment
English
〜アップ
-appu
up(grade)
to upgrade or improve (something). Coupled with English or pseudo-English nouns that indicate what that something is; e.g., version-up: upgrade (software), buy the next-better version or model of something, improve the appearance of something; image-up: improve the image of, improve one's outward appearance; "weight-up": to gain weight; manner-up: improve one's manners, learn (proper/better) manners or etiquette; power-up: an object that instantly benefits or adds extra abilities to a video game character; base-up, level-up: take to the next or a higher (basic) level of quality; also base-up (frequently abbreviated bea): to raise the base wage of the workers
smorgasbord, buffet. (Supposedly named after the restaurant "Imperial Viking" in the Imperial Hotel, the first restaurant in Japan to serve buffet-style meals and named after the US film The Vikings)
a bus hijacking (possibly based on the English term "carjack")
English (US)
バター
batā
butter
butter, sometimes used on food packaging for margarine
English
バッティング
battingu
batting or butting
Swing the bat in baseball; or, to project forward or propose competitively on business or others by two or more parties, like "butting heads" by animals.
blazer, or a Japanese school uniform that includes that garment. It usually has buttons down the front and a vest under it with a white collared shirt.
-esque, attached to a noun. For example, a product with cute character illustrations may be considered "Akihabara-chikku". (This is rebracketing, as the actual productive English suffix is -ic. The t is these English words are part of their Latin/Greek etymons' stems.)
an editor for a certain section of a publication. (Derived from desk’s meaning as a division of specialization in a newsroom, e.g., "the sports desk".) A desk.
English
ドアカット
doakatto
door + cut
selective door operation
English
ドイツ
doitsu
Duits(land), Deutsch(land)
Germany
Dutch, German
ドクターストップ
dokutā sutoppu
doctor stop
when the doctor tells a patient to stop doing something
English
ドンマイ
donmai
don('t) mi(nd)
"don't worry about it", "don't pay (that) any mind", "it's/I'm OK", "no problem". Used when something goes wrong.
an image, often used to indicate an artist's rendering or a graphic intended to provide a conceptual image of a situation; especially in advertising and design, a conceptual description intended to conjure a mental image of an abstract situation; (the public's) impression or perception of an entity.
English
イメージクラブ
imēji-kurabu
image + club
a type of brothel in which the staff dress in costumes (schoolgirl, nurse, etc.)
Someone's own. E.g., mai būmu: personal taste; mai kã: one's own car; mai waifu : one's wife; mai hōmū: one's own house; mai pēsu: doing things at one's own (leisurely) pace, taking one's time (often somewhat derogatory). Confusingly for English speakers, this can be used to refer to someone else's car, wife, home, etc.
mobile communications, mobile communications capability, or mobile communications devices, esp. PDAs and personal computers with wireless communications capabilities
English
モバメ
mobame
mobile + mail
mobile phone-based mailing list subscription, usually used by entertainers to share their daily activities with fans
English
モボ
mobo
mo(dern) bo(y)
(1920s slang) young men adopting western styles and behaviours
English
モガ
moga
mo(dern) gi(rl)
(1920s slang) young women adopting western styles and behaviours, flapper
breakfast special, complimentary toast, hard-boiled egg et al. that is served at cafes when a cup of coffee is ordered (only seen in some parts of Japan)
English
モラトリアム人間
moratoriamu ningen
moratorium + 人間 (ningen, person)
a person who, having completed education and other preparations, delays the transition from student to productive member of society, staying in an uncertain limbo of continued education, part-time work, and parental support (similar to freeter)
English + Japanese
モーテル
mōteru
motel
recently called as "love hotel". Does not have meaning of English "motel" used by tourists with their own vehicles.
alumnus, alumna, former student; furthermore used for former sport team members, employees, politicians etc., for former members of any kind of organisation likewise
secondhand shop (selling used or unwanted furniture, household appliances, housewares, and clothes; slightly different from non-profit or charity thrift shops in that they are fundamentally for-profit shops and perceived as one way to help reduce trash)
English
リセマラ
rise-mara
reset marathon
uninstalling and reinstalling a game in order to re-roll certain starting items or statistics until a desirable result is achieved
English
リストラ
risutora
restru(cturing)
(noun) restructuring, but with emphasis on lowering headcounts as in downsizing, termination as a redundancy; (verb) to downsize, lay off or terminate as a redundancy. When used in the passive (〜される: -sareru), to get or have been made redundant, downsized (out of a job)
sexual attraction to fictional and real underage girls, or ephebophilia. (reborrowed into English to refer a genre of manga-style sexual artwork involving childlike female characters)
English
ロスタイム
rosu taimu
loss time
added time, additional time
English
ルー
rū
roux
roux, most commonly used in describing the sauce of the popular dish, curry rice
(noun) (legal) trouble, a dispute or altercation; (verb) to encounter or experience trouble, to break down or not function as expected (e.g., a device)
of (artificial or boring) uniformity or conformity, lacking of (spontaneous) variation. Used to describe behavior and responses as well as objects. Being "in a rut"
the rush of traffic and people, and attendant traffic jams and crowding of transportation facilities, that occurs as everyone returns home after extended holidays, esp. New Year's, Golden Week, and the summer o-bon week.
English
ザイル
zairu
Seil (meaning 'rope')
rope (used in a climbing context, in preference to the general term 'rōpu')
↑ Takie Sugiyama Lebra; Henshall, Kenneth G. (November 2000). "Review of Dimensions of Japanese Society: Gender, Margins and Mainstream by Kenneth G. Henshall". The Journal of Asian Studies. The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 59, No. 4. 59 (4): 1019–1020. doi:10.2307/2659245. JSTOR2659245. S2CID144665359.
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References
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. ISBN4-385-14034-0.
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