Akira Miura - English Loanwords in Japanese: A Selection: Learn Japanese Vocabulary the Easy Way with This Useful Japanese Phrasebook, Dictionary & Grammar Guide

Bbar

Although b may refer to a bar used in field events such as high jumps and pole vaults, or to a handrail used by a dancer for practice, it most commonly signifies a Western-style drinking establishment with a counter. A Japanese b is often a fancy place with "hostesses" where drinks are served at table. Recently, however, a simpler type of bar with no tables in which customers have to sit or even stand up and drink at the counter itself has become quite popular (Miller 1967:252); this type of bar is called sutando-b (lit., "stand bar").

BAIBAIbye-bye

Baibai is sometimes used by Japanese youngsters in the sense of "bye-bye." Adults use it only in speaking to little children. In any case, baibai is not as common as its non-loan counterparts such as sayonara.

BAIKINGUViking

The first smorgasbord restaurant in Japan opened at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo in 1962 (Sanseido 1972:497). Since a smorgasbord is of Scandinavian origin, the restaurant was appropriately named Baikingu, i.e., Viking. Baikingu, however, soon came to signify broadly "restaurant food served buffet style for which one pays a specified price regardless of the amount one eats." Therefore, one even hears of such incongruous combinations as Chka-Baikingu (lit., "Chinese Viking") and Sekai-Baikingu (lit., "World Viking") (Umegaki 1973:87).

BAKETSUbucket

Baketsu was introduced into Japanese during the Meiji era. There is no non-loan counterpart. In fact, it has become such an integral part of the Japanese vocabulary that some Japanese speakers may not even conceive of it as a loanword. Interestingly enough, in such new loans as baketto-shto ("bucket seat"), baketto is used instead of baketsu.

BAKKUback

Bakku most commonly means "background," as in Fuji-san o bakku ni shite kazoku no shashin o totta ("I took a picture of the family with Mt. Fuji as a background"). When converted into a verb with the addition of the Japanese verb suru ("do"), it means "to move backward," as in Sukoshi bakku-shite-kudasai ("Please back up a little").

The compound bakku-mir (lit., "back mirror") is a Japan-made term meaning "rear-view mirror." Another automobile-related pseudo-loan is 1furonto-garasu (lit., "front glass," i.e., "windshield"). (Furonto-garasu is occasionally called furonto-gurasu, but this form is not common.)

BAR(BRU)volleyball

lBarbru and its very common abbreviation, bar, have all but replaced the corresponding non-loan, haiky. Although bare also refers to ballet, confusion is avoided by distinction in accent. Bare ("ballet") is accented on the first syllable, whereas bare ("volleyball") is normally accentless.

BASUbath, bus

1Basu, in the sense of "bath," refers only to a Western-style bathtub (or bathroom). A Japanese-style bath is not basu, but (o-)furo. Basurmu accordingly means "room with a Western-style bathtub"; a room with a Japanese-style bathtub is usually (o-)furoba. In America, a room which has a toilet but no bathtub may be called a bathroom ; this is not true for the Japanese basurmu.

Basu also means "bus." Because of the limited number of Japanese vowels and consonants, both bath and bus unfortunately became basu. For a detailed discussion of the phonology of English loanwords, see Sonoda (1975:81-168).

There used to be a non-loanword meaning "bus," i.e., noriai-jidsha (or noriai for short); however, it is now obsolete.

BSU-KONTORRUbirth control

1Bsu-kontorru is sometimes used by intellectuals as a euphemism for such non-loan equivalents as sanji-seigen and ninshin-chsetsu. Its abbreviated version, basukon, from "birth con(trol)," is probably restricted to informal occasions.

BASUTObust

The practice of having one's bust, waist, and hips measured to have clothes made was introduced to Japan with Western civilization. (Up to that time, the kimono was the only type of clothing in Japan, and to make kimonos, only two types of measurements were considered relevant, the vertical length of the kimono and the length from the back of the neck to the tip of the sleeves.) At first, bust, waist, and hip were translated into Japanese as mune-mawari (lit., "chest circumference"), d-mawari (lit., "body circumference"), and shiri-mawari (lit., "bottom circumference"), respectively. These terms gradually came to be regarded as too direct and crude and were eventually replaced by less-direct loanwords: basuto ("bust"), uesuto ("waist"), and hippu ("hip") (Matsuo et al. 1965:204).

BATTbatter

Batta is a baseball term. Dosha, its non-loan equivalent, is not as common, and is used mainly in writing. A batter's box is called batt-bokkusu (lit., "batter box"). The possessive case ending, i.e., 's, was obviously dropped when the word was borrowed. This phenomenon, however, is not unusual. For example, another baseball term, firudzu-choisu ("fielder's choice"), used to be firud-choisu (lit., "fielder choice") until recently.

BEBbaby

Baby is normally akanb or aka-chan, both of which are non-loanwords. Beb is usually used in compounds only, such as beb-uea ("baby wear"), beb-shzu ("baby shoes"), and beb-paud ("baby powder"). There are some Japan-made compounds, too, e.g., beb-k (lit., "baby car," i.e., "stroller"), and beb-skuru (lit., "baby circle," i.e., "playpen"). Beb in the sense of "small" also appears in some pseudo-loans, most notably beb-gorufu (lit., "baby golf," i.e., "miniature golf").

BEDDObed

Beddo ("Western-style bed") has another variant, betto. Whether betto was derived from Dutch bed or German Bett or was simply created when the voiced d in beddo was changed by mistake to the voiceless t is not clear. No one would deny, however, that beddo is a much more established form now than betto. The Japanese counterpart, shindai, is obsolete except to refer to berths in sleeping cars.

Beddo appears in several compounds also, such as beddokab ("bedcover"), beddormu ("bedroom"), and beddo-jaketto ("bed jacket"). There is another interesting compound, beddo-taun (lit., "bed town," i.e., "bedroom town"). Despite the similarity of beddo-taun to English bedroom town, the Japanese term may have been coined in Japan independently.

BERUbell

Unlike English bell, Japanese beru refers only to small mechanical or electric bells located at such places as schools, theaters, railroad stations, and the front door of a house. Bicycle bells are aso beru, but temple or church bells are kane, a non-loanword.

BESUTObest

When used alone, besuto normally means "the best effort that can be made," as in Besuto o tsukushite tatakau beki da ("One should make one's best effort in competition"). It also appears in compounds such as besuto-kondishon ("best condition"), besuto-ser ("best seller"), and besuto-taimu ("best time" for runners and racers). An interesting pseudo-loan compound is besuto-ten (lit., "best ten"), as in Sakunen-do no Nihon-eiga no besuto-ten ga erabareta ("Last year's ten best Japanese films have been selected"). The word order of the English ten best was obviously reversed in Japanese.

BETERANveteran