Hanafuda
/ha.na.ɸɯ.da/noun
A traditional Japanese card game played with decks illustrated with flowers, plants, animals, and seasonal imagery.
Did you know?Nintendo began manufacturing hanafuda cards in 1889, decades before it became known worldwide as a video-game company.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Japonic
Proto-Japonic
*pana
“Flower or blossom; the ancestral form associated with Japanese hana”
8th Century
Old Japanese
hana
“Flower, blossom, or flowering plant”
Classical Japanese
Japanese
fuda
“A card, ticket, tag, or written slip; the form of 札 used in compounds”
Edo Period
Japanese
hanafuda
““Flower cards,” a term for Japanese playing cards decorated with seasonal natural motifs”
1889
Japanese
花札
“The card game and deck popularized commercially by Nintendo’s founder, Fusajiro Yamauchi”
Modern English
English
hanafuda
“A Japanese flower-themed card deck or the games played with it”
Explore more surprising origins