How did honcho enter American English?

Through US soldiers in Japan and Korea

What was a futon originally in Japan?

A padded mattress laid on the floor

Japanese Loanwords Quiz: Tsunami, Emoji and Karaoke

English borrowed tsunami from harbor wave and karaoke from empty orchestra, and this Japanese loanwords quiz decodes words you use every day. Play an interactive set of 10 questions on emoji, tycoon, honcho, karate, origami, umami, futon, anime, sudoku and how American soldiers carried some words home.

Start Japanese Loanwords Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Emoji
What does emoji literally mean in Japanese?
Tsunami
What does tsunami literally mean?
Karaoke
What does karaoke literally mean?
Tycoon
From which Japanese title does tycoon come?
Honcho
How did honcho enter American English?
Karate
What does karate mean?
Origami
What does origami mean?
Umami
Who identified umami as a basic taste in 1908?
Futon
What was a futon originally in Japan?
Sudoku
What does sudoku roughly mean?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What does emoji literally mean in Japanese?
Answer: Picture character
The resemblance to emotion is a coincidence.
Q2: What does tsunami literally mean?
Answer: Harbor wave
Fishermen returned to find harbors destroyed.
Q3: What does karaoke literally mean?
Answer: Empty orchestra
The music plays without a singer.
Q4: From which Japanese title does tycoon come?
Answer: Taikun, meaning great lord
Foreigners used it for the shogun in the 1850s.
Q5: How did honcho enter American English?
Answer: Through US soldiers in Japan and Korea
Hanchō means squad leader.
Q6: What does karate mean?
Answer: Empty hand
It is a striking art without weapons.
Q7: What does origami mean?
Answer: Folding paper
Oru is to fold and kami is paper.
Q8: Who identified umami as a basic taste in 1908?
Answer: Kikunae Ikeda
He linked it to glutamate in kombu broth.
Q9: What was a futon originally in Japan?
Answer: A padded mattress laid on the floor
Western futons are often sofa beds.
Q10: What does sudoku roughly mean?
Answer: The digits must be single
The name is short for a longer Japanese phrase.

Japanese Loanwords Quiz – Words English Borrowed From Japan

English has borrowed many Japanese words. Tsunami means harbor wave, karaoke means empty orchestra and emoji means picture character, despite the resemblance to emotion.

Some words arrived long ago. Tycoon comes from taikun, a title used for the shogun in the 1850s, and honcho came home with American soldiers who served in Japan and Korea. Karate means empty hand and origami means folding paper.

Food and culture added more: umami, identified by chemist Kikunae Ikeda in 1908, futon, anime, manga and sudoku, a puzzle name meaning the digits must be single.

What This Quiz Teaches

Language lovers will enjoy these questions.

What common loanwords mean
How some words arrived
Which words come from martial arts
Which come from food
Which come from games

Did You Know?

Kaizen means continuous improvement.
Bonsai means tree in a tray.
Typhoon's origin is debated.
Ramen came to Japan from China.
Rickshaw comes from jinrikisha, human-powered vehicle.