Japan
WordNet
noun
(1) Lacquer with a durable glossy black finish, originally from the orient
(2) Lacquerware decorated and varnished in the Japanese manner with a glossy durable black lacquer
(3) A string of more than 3,000 islands east of Asia extending 1,300 miles between the Sea of Japan and the western Pacific Ocean
(4) A constitutional monarchy occupying the Japanese Archipelago; a world leader in electronics and automobile manufacture and ship building
verb
(5) Coat with a lacquer, as done in Japan
WiktionaryText
Etymology
From or , from , from Chinese 日本 (jih-pǔn).
Although the earliest form of "Japan" in Europe was Marco Polo's "Chipangu", the first recorded form in English was in a letter dated February 19, 1565 (published 1577), spelt “Giapan”. “Of the Ilande of Giapan”, by Luīs Fróis (a Portuguese Jesuit missionary in Japan), published in Richard Willes, “The History of Travayle in the West and East Indies” (London 1577), cited in “Travel Narratives from the Age of Discovery”, by Peter C. Mancall, pp. 156–57.
Proper noun
Related terms
- Jap
- Japanese
- Japanize
- Japanology
- Japanophile
- Japanophilia
- Nip
- Nipponism
- Nipponize
- Sea of Japan