science

List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin

List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin rather than just read about it. In short: Many Japanese words of Portuguese origin entered the Japanese language when Portuguese Jesuit priests and traders introduced Christian ideas, Western science, medicine, technology and new products to the Japanese during the Muromachi period (15th and 16th centuries). The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach Japan and the first to establish direct trade between Japan and Europe, in 1543.

Key takeaways

List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Many Japanese words of Portuguese origin entered the Japanese language when Portuguese Jesuit priests and traders introduced Christian ideas, Western science, medicine, technology and new products to the Japanese during the Muromachi period (15th and 16th centuries). The Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach Japan and the first to establish direct trade between Japan and Europe, in 1543. During the 16th and 17th century, Portuguese Jesuits had undertaken a great work of Catechism, that ended only with religious persecution in the early Edo period (Tokugawa Shogunate).

List of direct loanwords Many of the words which were introduced and entered the Japanese language from Portuguese and Dutch are written in kanji or hiragana, rather than katakana, which is the more common way to write loanwords in Japanese in modern times. Kanji versions of the words are ateji, characters that are "fitted" or "applied" to the words by the Japanese, based on either the pronunciation or the meaning of the word. The † indicates the word is archaic and no longer in use.

List of indirect loanwords

False cognates Some word pairs that appear similar are actually false cognates of unrelated origins.

Arigatō

It is often suggested that the Japanese word arigatō derives from the Portuguese obrigado, both of which mean "Thank you", but evidence indicates arigatō has a purely Japanese origin, so these two words are false cognates. Arigatō is an "u"-sound change of arigataku. In turn, arigataku is the adverbial form of an adjective arigatai, from older arigatashi, itself a compound of ari + katashi. Written records of arigatashi exist dating back to the Man'yōshū compiled in the 8th century AD, well before Japanese contact with the Portuguese in the 16th century. Ari is a conjugation of verb aru meaning "to be", and katashi is an adjective meaning "difficult", so arigatashi literally means "difficult to exist", hence "rare" and thus "precious", with usage shifting to indicate gratitude for receiving an outstanding kindness. The phrase to express such gratitude is arigatō gozaimasu, or arigatō for short.

Other words not of Portuguese origin

See also Gairaigo List of gairaigo and wasei-eigo terms Japanese words of Dutch origin Nippo Jisho, the first Japanese dictionary in a Western language

References

External links sci.lang.japan FAQ Japanese words of Portuguese origin

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin

In research: List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Japanese culture-related lists, Japanese vocabulary, Japan–Portugal relations, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin in simple terms?

Why does List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on List of Japanese words of Portuguese origin.