Vol. 09 · Loanwords ·Japanese ·1950s
Bonsai
from bonsai
- Meaning
- The art of cultivating miniature trees in trays.
- Source word
- bonsai
- Route into English
- Japanese *bonsai* (tray-planting, borrowed from Chinese *penzai*) → English via mid-20th-century interest in Japanese arts. The art is originally Chinese (*penjing*); the Japanese refinement is what English knows.
- Arrived
- 1950s
From Japanese
Two waves — Meiji-era diplomatic contact (1850s–1900s) and post-war US military presence (1945–) account for almost all Japanese loans in general English.
English borrows.
Browse the full loanword atlas or explore another source language.