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Beikoku

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.

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.

Table of kanji abbreviations of country names
Kanji abbreviation Full kanji writing Country name in rōmaji Country name in English
英 {{different|英}}吉利 Igirisu England / United Kingdom
米 亜{{different|米}}利加 Amerika United States of America
露 {{different|露}}西亜 Roshia Russia
仏 {{different|仏}}蘭西 Furansu France
独 {{different|独}}逸 Doitsu Germany
蘭 和{{different|蘭}} Oranda Holland / The Netherlands
欧 {{different|欧}}羅巴 Yooroppa Europe
印 {{different|印}}度 Indo India
豪 {{different|豪}}斯多拉利 Oosutoraria Australia
加 {{different|加}}奈陀 Kanada Canada
西 {{different|西}}班牙 Supein Spain
伊 {{different|伊}}太利 Itaria Italy
亜 {{different|亜}}細亜 Ajia Asia

Links

  • Petronius's list of ateji for place names (in Japanese)
  • Kanji de Gaikoku (in Japanese)