Japanese loanwords in Hawaii
Encyclopedia
Many loanwords in Hawaiian Pidgin
(or Hawaiian Creole
English) derive from the Japanese language
. The linguistic influences of the Japanese in Hawaii
began with the first immigrants from Japan in 1868 and continue with the large Japanese American
population in Hawaii today.
The following lists three categories of Japanese loanword
s in Hawaii: Food, Objects, and Miscellaneous.
Note that there are other Japanese words common among the Japanese American population (such as "okazu" and "obaachan"), but not as well-known among Hawaii's general population. Such words have not been included here, nor have Japanese words which have entered the English language on a national level, such as "anime
," (:ja:アニメ) "karaoke
," (:ja:カラオケ) "samurai
," (侍) and "sushi
" (:ja:寿司).
It is also interesting to note that some words are not from the standard Japanese language. They instead originated from Japan's regional dialects. For example, the word "bobora" is said to be spoken only in certain prefectures, especially in western Japan where many of the Japanese immigrants came from. It originates from the Portuguese word abóbora meaning Japanese pumpkin.
Hawaiian Pidgin
Hawaii Pidgin English, Hawaii Creole English, HCE, or simply Pidgin, is a creole language based in part on English used by many "local" residents of Hawaii. Although English and Hawaiian are the co-official languages of the state of Hawaii, Pidgin is used by many Hawaii residents in everyday...
(or Hawaiian Creole
Creole language
A creole language, or simply a creole, is a stable natural language developed from the mixing of parent languages; creoles differ from pidgins in that they have been nativized by children as their primary language, making them have features of natural languages that are normally missing from...
English) derive from the Japanese language
Japanese language
is a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
. The linguistic influences of the Japanese in Hawaii
Japanese in Hawaii
The Japanese in Hawaii simply Japanese or “Local Japanese”, rarely Kepanī are the second largest ethnic group in Hawaii. At their height in 1920, they constituted 43% of Hawaii's population. They now number about 16.7% of the islands' population, according to the 2000 U.S...
began with the first immigrants from Japan in 1868 and continue with the large Japanese American
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
population in Hawaii today.
The following lists three categories of Japanese loanword
Loanword
A loanword is a word borrowed from a donor language and incorporated into a recipient language. By contrast, a calque or loan translation is a related concept where the meaning or idiom is borrowed rather than the lexical item itself. The word loanword is itself a calque of the German Lehnwort,...
s in Hawaii: Food, Objects, and Miscellaneous.
Note that there are other Japanese words common among the Japanese American population (such as "okazu" and "obaachan"), but not as well-known among Hawaii's general population. Such words have not been included here, nor have Japanese words which have entered the English language on a national level, such as "anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
," (:ja:アニメ) "karaoke
Karaoke
is a form of interactive entertainment or video game in which amateur singers sing along with recorded music using a microphone and public address system. The music is typically a well-known pop song minus the lead vocal. Lyrics are usually displayed on a video screen, along with a moving symbol,...
," (:ja:カラオケ) "samurai
Samurai
is the term for the military nobility of pre-industrial Japan. According to translator William Scott Wilson: "In Chinese, the character 侍 was originally a verb meaning to wait upon or accompany a person in the upper ranks of society, and this is also true of the original term in Japanese, saburau...
," (侍) and "sushi
Sushi
is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...
" (:ja:寿司).
It is also interesting to note that some words are not from the standard Japanese language. They instead originated from Japan's regional dialects. For example, the word "bobora" is said to be spoken only in certain prefectures, especially in western Japan where many of the Japanese immigrants came from. It originates from the Portuguese word abóbora meaning Japanese pumpkin.
Food
- AnpanAnpanis a Japanese sweet bun most commonly filled with red bean paste. Anpan can also be prepared with other fillings, including white beans , sesame and chestnut .- History :...
(:ja:あんパン, 餡パン): A sweet bread filled with azuki bean pasteRed bean pasteRed bean paste or Azuki bean paste is a sweet, dark red bean paste originating from China. It is used in Chinese cuisine, Japanese confectionery, and Korean cuisine. It is prepared by boiling and mashing azuki beans and then sweetening the paste with sugar or honey...
and sprinkled on top with sesame seeds. Usually larger than the Japanese variety. - BentoBentois a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container. Containers range from disposable mass produced to hand crafted lacquerware...
(:ja:弁当, べんとう): Box lunch geared for portability for picnics, etc. It typically has rice, a main dish of meat or fish, and side dishes. It used to be food on a paper plate placed inside a thin cardboard box. Now, it's all in convenient styrofoam containers molded for each dish. - ManjuManju (food)is a popular traditional Japanese confection. There are many varieties of manjū, but most have an outside made from flour, rice powder and buckwheat and a filling of an , made from boiled azuki beans and sugar. They are boiled together again and kneaded...
(:ja:饅頭): Confection with sweet azuki bean paste inside a flour-based outside. - Miso soupMiso soupis a traditional Japanese soup consisting of a stock called "dashi" into which is mixed softened miso paste. Many ingredients are added depending on regional and seasonal recipes, and personal preference.-Miso paste:...
(:ja:味噌汁): Soup made of fermented soybeanSoybeanThe soybean or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses...
paste called misoMisois a traditional Japanese seasoning produced by fermenting rice, barley and/or soybeans, with salt and the fungus , the most typical miso being made with soy. The result is a thick paste used for sauces and spreads, pickling vegetables or meats, and mixing with dashi soup stock to serve as miso...
. Miso-shiru in Japanese. - MochiMochiMochi is a Japanese rice cake made of glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape. In Japan it is traditionally made in a ceremony called mochitsuki. While also eaten year-round, mochi is a traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during that time...
(:ja:餅): Rice cake made of a special kind of rice that has been pounded into a sticky mass. Mochi may be sweetened or unsweetened. Commonly pounded and eaten during New Year's, as in Japan. Sweetened azuki beans are commonly included with mochi as part of a confection. - Mochi crunch: Rice crackersSenbeiare a type of Japanese rice crackers. They come in various shapes, sizes, and flavors, usually savory but sometimes sweet. Senbei are often eaten with green tea as a casual snack and offered to visiting house guests as a courtesy refreshment....
seasoned with shoyu. Also called "kaki mochi". Called arare in standard Japanese. - Mochi ice creamMochi ice creamMochi ice cream is a Japanese confection made from mochi with an ice cream filling.Originally created by Lotte, as Yukimi Daifuku in 1981, the company first made the product by using a rice starch instead of sticky rice and a type of ice milk instead of real ice cream. Mochi ice cream is now an...
: Ice cream coated with a thin layer of frozen mochi. - Musubi: Rice triangle wrapped in dried seaweed; may or may not have something in the middle, like a pickled umeUmePrunus mume, with the common names including Chinese plum and Japanese apricot, is an Asian tree species classified in the Armeniaca section of the genus Prunus. The flower, long a beloved subject in the traditional painting of East Asia, is usually translated as plum blossom. This distinct tree...
or bits of fish. Spam musubiSpam musubiSpam musubi is a popular snack and lunch food in Hawaii composed a slice of grilled Spam atop of a block of rice, wrapped together with nori in the tradition of Japanese omusubi....
has a piece of SPAMSpam (food)Spam is a canned precooked meat product made by the Hormel Foods Corporation, first introduced in 1937. The labeled ingredients in the classic variety of Spam are chopped pork shoulder meat, with ham meat added, salt, water, modified potato starch as a binder, and sodium nitrite as a preservative...
luncheon meat on top. In Japanese the word onigiriOnigiri, also known as or rice ball, is a Japanese food made from white rice formed into triangular or oval shapes and often wrapped in nori . Traditionally, an onigiri is filled with pickled ume , salted salmon, katsuobushi, kombu, tarako, or any other salty or sour ingredient as a natural preservative...
is more commonly used for rice balls. Without further clarification, "musubi" usually implies the triangle variety (round balls of rice are only eaten at funerals). - Shoyu (:ja:醤油): Soy sauceSoy sauceSoy sauce is a condiment produced by fermenting soybeans with Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds, along with water and salt...
. "Shoyu rice" is shoyu sprinkled over rice. "Shoyu x" is some ingredient x cooked in soy sauce, e.g. "Shoyu chicken", "shoyu pork", "shoyu tofu". This term is so widely used that most Hawaiian residents are unaware that is not the widely used English language term for soy sauce. - SukiyakiSukiyakiSukiyaki is a Japanese dish in the nabemono style.It consists of meat which is slowly cooked or simmered at the table, alongside vegetables and other ingredients, in a shallow iron pot in a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, and mirin...
(:ja:すき焼き): Thin slices of beefBeefBeef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
, vegetableVegetableThe noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s, and tofu simmered in a skillet or pan in sukiyaki sauce. It is also the title of a No. 1 hit song in the U.S.United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
made popular by Kyu SakamotoKyu Sakamotowas a Japanese singer and actor, best known outside of Japan for his international hit song "Sukiyaki", which was sung in Japanese and sold over 13 million copies...
in 1963. The Japanese title of the song is "Ue o muite arukōSukiyaki (song)The cover version by A Taste of Honey reached number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also went to number 1 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart and Soul chart)....
—it has nothing to do with the food product.) - TeriyakiTeriyakiTeriyaki is a cooking technique used in Japanese cuisine in which foods are broiled or grilled in a sweet soy sauce marinade...
(:ja:照り焼き): Grilled meat basted with a sauce made of shoyu and sugar. Meat words such as "chicken" are often appended. A common dish in plate lunches. Often shortened to "teri", e.g. "teri burger". - Tako (:ja:タコ): OctopusOctopusThe octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...
. Often used in a local dish called poke in which case it is called "tako poke". - TofuTofuis a food made by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into soft white blocks. It is part of East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and others. There are many different varieties of tofu, including fresh tofu and tofu...
(:ja:豆腐): Soybean curd.
Objects
- Benjo (:ja:便所): ToiletToiletA toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
, interchangeable with Hawaiian-derived lua. Although originally a Japanese word with no particular connotation, in Japan, it is now considered to be crude, and many Japanese people find this term offensive. (See also: Japanese toilet). - Bobora: A country hick fresh off the boat from Japan. Also called "Japan bobora". Originally from a regional Japanese dialect, based on the Portuguese word abóbora, meaning a Japanese squashKabochaKabocha is a Japanese variety of winter squash. The word kabocha has come to mean a general type of winter squash to many English-speaking growers and buyers. In some cultures it is revered as an aphrodisiac....
. - Boro boros: Dirty clothes, rags. Old clothes worn for activities like house painting, car repair, etc.
- Chawan cut: A hairstyle that was common among little Japanese girls. It looked like someone put a bowl (茶碗, chawanChawanright|thumb|250px|A [[Azuchi-Momoyama period|16th century]] black [[Raku]]-ware tea bowl chawan A chawan is a bowl used for preparing and drinking tea. There are many types of chawan used in a tea ceremony, and the choice of their use depends upon many considerations...
) over the head and cut around the rim. In Japanese, it is called okappa, after the Japanese mythological creature called kappa which sports a similar haircut. - Daikon legs: DaikonDaikonDaikon , Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus, also called White Radish, Japanese radish, Oriental radish, Chinese radish, lo bok and Mooli , is a mild flavoured, very large, white East Asian radish...
(:ja:ダイコン or 大根) are large white radishRadishThe radish is an edible root vegetable of the Brassicaceae family that was domesticated in Europe, in pre-Roman times. They are grown and consumed throughout the world. Radishes have numerous varieties, varying in size, color and duration of required cultivation time...
es having a stubby shape. The term refers to Japanese women's legs which seem short and stubby. This is rumored to be the result of sitting on the floor for long periods. The Japanese equivalent is daikon ashi. - Giri-giri: The cowlickCowlickA cowlick is a section of hair that stands straight up or lies at an angle at odds with the style in which the rest of an individual's hair is worn. Cowlicks appear when the growth direction of the hair forms a spiral pattern. The term "cowlick" originates from the domestic bovine's habit of...
. Giri giri is an onomatopoeic word with a different meaning in standard Japanese. This use of the word originates from local dialects spoken in mainly western Japan where it means tsumuji, the standard Japanese word for the cowlick. - Hanakuso: Dried nasal mucusDried nasal mucusDried nasal mucus, pieces of which are colloquially known as bogeys in English and boogers in American, is commonly found in the nose and is a result of drying of the normally viscous colloidal mucus .-Formation:...
. Hana means nose, and kuso means waste. KusoKusoKuso is the term used in East Asia for the internet culture that generally includes all types of camp and parody. In Japanese, means shit, and is often uttered as an interjection. It is considered milder than its English counterpart, more comparable to damn. It is also used to describe outrageous...
in Japanese typically refers to human excrement. This compound is also found in standard Japanese. - Hanabuddah (or hanabata): The fluid version of hanakuso. Bata is from English "butter". The term in Japanese is usually hanamizu ("nose water").
- Hanabuddah days: Hanabuddah is most commonly seen on young children who neglect to wipe their runny noses. Thus, hanabuddah days refers to one's youth in Hawaii.
- Hashi (also ohashi): ChopsticksChopsticksChopsticks are small, often tapered, sticks used in pairs of equal length as the traditional eating utensils of China and its diaspora, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and Northern provinces of Laos, Thailand and Burma. Generally believed to have originated in ancient China, they can also be found in some...
, as in Japanese. - "KikaidaKikaidais a Japanese franchise about the titular character Kikaider created by Shotaro Ishinomori. It was originally both tokusatsu and manga starting July 1972, and has since been adapted into anime and sequel manga....
": After the television seriesKikaida (TV series)is a tokusatsu superhero TV series, and the first to feature the superhero Kikaider. Created by Japanese manga artist Shotaro Ishinomori, the show was produced by Toei Company Ltd., and was broadcast on NET from July 8, 1972 to May 5, 1973, with a total of 43 episodes.This series was also one of...
of the same name become enormously popular in Hawaii, "Kikaida" became a generic name for children's shows featuring superheroSuperheroA superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
s. - Shishi: UrineUrineUrine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
or urination, used in "go shishi" or "make shishi". The Double-Tongued Dictionary gives three possible etymologies for "shishi": imitative from the sound of urinating, Japanese reduplicated shi from shiko "urinate" (sic., probably shito 尿 "urine"), or Portuguese xixi "urinate". There is a Japanese kanjiKanjiKanji are the adopted logographic Chinese characters hanzi that are used in the modern Japanese writing system along with hiragana , katakana , Indo Arabic numerals, and the occasional use of the Latin alphabet...
joke based on 五-四-四 "5-4-4", which can be read go-shi-shi in Japanese. Thus, “I gotta five-four-four” is a Pidgin euphemism for "I gotta go shishi". - Zori: Rubber thonged slippers, often called flip-flopFlip-flopFlip-flops, thongs, Japanese sandals, or jandals are an open type of outdoor footwear, consisting of a flat sole held loosely on the foot by a Y-shaped strap, like a thin thong, that passes between the first and second toes and around either side of the foot...
s in the continental U.S. Also zoris (plural). Synonymous with "slippers" or "slippahs". From the Japanese word zoriZoriare flat and thonged Japanese sandals made of rice straw or other plant fibers, cloth, lacquered wood, leather, rubber, or—increasingly—synthetic materials...
(:ja:草履). Called "beach sandal" (:ja:ビーチサンダル) in standard Japanese.
Miscellaneous
- Bocha: Take a bathBathingBathing is the washing or cleansing of the body in a fluid, usually water or an aqueous solution. It may be practised for personal hygiene, religious ritual or therapeutic purposes or as a recreational activity....
. Originally from bocha-bocha Japanese onomatopoeia for splashing noises. - Bon dance (:ja:盆踊り): From the Japanese Bon FestivalBon Festivalor just is a Japanese Buddhist custom to honor the spirits of one's ancestors. This Buddhist-Confucian custom has evolved into a family reunion holiday during which people return to ancestral family places and visit and clean their ancestors' graves, and when the spirits of ancestors are supposed...
. An annual summer dance held outside at BuddhistBuddhismBuddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
templeTempleA temple is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out...
s to greet the returning souls of the deceased. They dance in a circle around a tower where people sing and beat taiko drums. The most famous bon dance song is "Tanko-bushi" (炭坑節). - Habut/Habuteru: To feel grumpy or resentful, especially after you feel offended by something. Not standard Japanese but from Hiroshima dialect.
- Jan ken po: The children's game of rock (fist), paper (open hand), and scissors (peace sign). In Japanese, either jan ken or jan ken pon. The Japanese also do not say the prelude as used in Hawaii ("janken na manken an saka saka po ...") before they show their hands (many people in Hawaii do not use this either). This jan-ken-po prelude can also differ depending on the island.
- Shibai: A false act. Often refers to politicians or other influential persons who put on a false face. From the Japanese word shibai, meaning "a (theatre) playPlay (theatre)A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
." - Skebe: HornySexual arousalSexual arousal, or sexual excitement, is the arousal of sexual desire, during or in anticipation of sexual activity. Things that precipitate human sexual arousal are called erotic stimuli, or colloquially known as turn-ons. There are many potential stimuli, both physical or mental, which can cause...
. From Japanese sukebei. In Japanese, "H" (ecchiEcchiis an often used slang term in the Japanese language for erotic fantasy and sexual innuendoes. As an adjective it is used with the meaning of "dirty", "naughty", "frivolous"; as a verb , with the meaning to do something dirty, naughty, frivolous or to sleep together; or as a noun, to describe...
) is used for the same purpose, and sukebei refers to a pervert. - Skosh: Just a little. From Japanese sukoshi "a little".