Japan
/dʒəˈpæn/noun
A country in East Asia made up of a large archipelago in the Pacific Ocean.
Did you know?The English name ultimately reflects European attempts to render a Chinese-mediated form of 日本, showing how place names can be transformed by centuries of contact, commerce, and cartographic transmission.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient Chinese
Chinese
日本
“‘origin of the sun’ or ‘sun’s origin’”
Medieval Chinese
Chinese
Rìběn
“A pronunciation of 日本 used in Chinese and borrowed into neighboring languages”
Old Japanese
Japanese
Nippon / Nihon
“Native Japanese readings of 日本, meaning ‘origin of the sun’”
13th Century
Italian
Cipangu
“Marco Polo’s rendering of a distant eastern island kingdom reported as extraordinarily wealthy”
16th Century
Portuguese
Japão
“Portuguese form of the country name, adapted through European contact and transliteration”
16th Century
English
Japan
“English form borrowed from European languages, ultimately referring to the country of Japan”