sci.lang.japan FAQ
/ 3. Word origins
3.4. Why is America called bei?
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| Sign: 在日米軍基地 "US Military Base in Japan" |
The word Bei or Beikoku used as an abbreviation of "The
United States of America" actually means `rice' and is written with
the kanji 米. However this has nothing to do with rice production.
It originates from a kanji method of writing Amerika (America,
the USA) as 亜米利加. This kind of kanji applied to a
pre-existing word is called ateji. 1.2.6. Why do some gairaigo words have kanji? has more
on ateji applied to foreign words.
The reason Japanese uses the "me" kanji (米) of Amerika rather
than the `a' one (亜) may be because Japanese uses the `a' kanji as an
abbreviation of Ajia (asia): this originates from the kanji
writing of Ajia as 亜細亜.
Some other countries are similarly often written as a single
kanji, especially in newspaper headlines.
| Kanji abbreviation
| Full kanji writing
| Country name in roomaji
| Country name in English
| Notes
| | 英 | 英吉利 | Igirisu
| England / United Kingdom
| See also 4.2. Which Japanese words come from Portuguese?.
| | 米 | 亜米利加 | Amerika
| United States of America
| | 露 | 露西亜 | Roshia
| Russia
| | 仏 | 仏蘭西 | Furansu
| France
| | 独 | 独逸 | Doitsu
| Germany
| | 蘭 | 和蘭 | Oranda
| Holland / The Netherlands
| | 欧 | 欧羅巴 | Yooroppa
| Europe
| | 印 | 印度 | Indo
| India
| | 豪 | 豪斯多拉利
| Oosutoraria | Australia
| | 加 | 加奈陀 | Kanada
| Canada
| | 西 | 西班牙 | Supein
| Spain
| | 伊 | 伊太利 | Itaria
| Italy
| | 亜 | 亜細亜 | Ajia | Asia
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Web links
An extensive list of ateji for countries and cities can be
found at this
web site (in Japanese)
sci.lang.japan FAQ
/ 3. Word origins
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