Japanese language

==Vocabulary==
{{Main|Yamato kotoba|Sino-Japanese vocabulary|Gairaigo}}
There are three main sources of words in the Japanese language: the ''yamato kotoba'' ({{Nihongo2|大和言葉}}) or ''wago'' ({{Nihongo2|和語}}); ''kango'' ({{Nihongo2|漢語}}); and ''gairaigo'' ({{Nihongo2|外来語}}).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Koichi |date=13 September 2011 |title=Yamato Kotoba: The REAL Japanese Language |url=https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/yamato-kotoba-language/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531001918/https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/yamato-kotoba-language/ |archive-date=2016-05-31 |access-date=2016-03-26 |website=Tofugu}}</ref>

The original language of Japan, or at least the original language of a certain population that was ancestral to a significant portion of the historical and present Japanese nation, was the so-called ''[[yamato kotoba]]'' ({{Nihongo2|大和言葉}} or infrequently {{Nihongo2|大和詞}}, i.e. "[[Yamato people|Yamato]] words"), which in scholarly contexts is sometimes referred to as ''wago'' ({{Nihongo2|和語}} or rarely {{Nihongo2|倭語}}, i.e. the "[[Wa (Japan)|Wa]] language"). In addition to words from this original language, present-day Japanese includes a number of words that were either borrowed from [[Chinese language|Chinese]] or constructed from Chinese roots following Chinese patterns. These words, known as ''[[Sino-Japanese vocabulary|kango]]'' ({{Nihongo2|漢語}}), entered the language from the 5th century{{clarify|date=March 2024}} onwards by contact with Chinese culture. According to the {{Nihongo|''Shinsen Kokugo Jiten''|新選国語辞典}} [[Japanese dictionary]], ''kango'' comprise 49.1% of the total vocabulary, ''wago'' make up 33.8%, other foreign words or ''[[gairaigo]]'' ({{Nihongo2|外来語}}) account for 8.8%, and the remaining 8.3% constitute hybridized words or ''konshugo'' ({{Nihongo2|混種語}}) that draw elements from more than one language.<ref>{{Cite book |publisher=小学館 |year=2001 |isbn=4-09-501407-5 |editor-last=金田一京 |script-title=ja:新選国語辞典}}</ref>

There are also a great number of words of [[mimetic]] origin in Japanese, with Japanese having a rich collection of [[Japanese sound symbolism|sound symbolism]], both [[onomatopoeia]] for physical sounds, and more [[Abstraction|abstract]] words. A small number of words have come into Japanese from the [[Ainu language]]. ''Tonakai'' ([[reindeer]]), ''rakko'' ([[sea otter]]) and ''[[shishamo]]'' ([[Smelts|smelt]], a type of fish) are well-known examples of words of Ainu origin.

Words of different origins occupy different [[Register (sociolinguistics)|registers]] in Japanese. Like Latin-derived words in English, ''kango'' words are typically perceived as somewhat formal or academic compared to equivalent Yamato words. Indeed, it is generally fair to say that an English word derived from Latin/French roots typically corresponds to a Sino-Japanese word in Japanese, whereas an [[Old English|Anglo-Saxon word]] would best be translated by a Yamato equivalent.

Incorporating vocabulary from [[languages of Europe|European languages]], ''gairaigo'', began with [[Japanese words of Portuguese origin|borrowings from Portuguese]] in the 16th century, followed by words from [[Dutch language|Dutch]] during Japan's [[sakoku|long isolation]] of the [[Edo period]]. With the [[Meiji Restoration]] and the reopening of Japan in the 19th century, words were borrowed from [[German language|German]], [[French language|French]], and [[English language|English]]. Today most borrowings are from English.

In the Meiji era, the Japanese also coined many neologisms using Chinese roots and morphology to translate European concepts;{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} these are known as [[wasei kango]] (Japanese-made Chinese words). Many of these were then imported into Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese via their kanji in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}} For example, {{Nihongo3|"politics"|政治|seiji}}, and {{Nihongo3|"chemistry"|化学|kagaku}} are words derived from Chinese roots that were first created and used by the Japanese, and only later borrowed into Chinese and other East Asian languages. As a result, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese share a large common corpus of vocabulary in the same way many Greek- and Latin-derived words – both inherited or borrowed into European languages, or modern coinages from Greek or Latin roots – are shared among modern European languages – see [[classical compound]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2010}}

In the past few decades, ''[[wasei-eigo]]'' ("made-in-Japan English") has become a prominent phenomenon. Words such as ''wanpatān'' {{Nihongo2|ワンパターン}} (< ''one'' + ''pattern'', "to be in a rut", "to have a one-track mind") and ''sukinshippu'' {{Nihongo2|スキンシップ}} (< ''skin'' + ''-ship'', "physical contact"), although coined by compounding English roots, are nonsensical in most non-Japanese contexts; exceptions exist in nearby languages such as Korean however, which often use words such as ''skinship'' and ''rimokon'' (remote control) in the same way as in Japanese.

The popularity of many Japanese cultural exports has made some native Japanese words familiar in English, including ''[[emoji]]'', ''[[futon]], [[haiku]], [[judo]], [[kamikaze]], [[karaoke]], [[karate]], [[ninja]], [[origami]], [[Pulled rickshaw|rickshaw]]'' (from {{Nihongo2|人力車}} ''jinrikisha''), ''[[samurai]], [[Sayonara (disambiguation)|sayonara]], [[Sudoku]], [[sumo]], [[sushi]], [[tofu]], [[tsunami]], [[tycoon]]''. See [[list of English words of Japanese origin]] for more.