Japan

• Giapan (obsolete)
• Japonia, Japony (obsolete)
• Japon (obsolete)

First attested in English as Giapan in Richard Willes's 1577 The History of Travayle in the West and East Indies (cited in Peter C. Mancall's Travel Narratives from the Age of Discovery, pp. 156–57), translating a 19 February 1565 letter of the Portuguese Jesuit missionary Luís Fróis as "Of the Ilande of Giapan".

Borrowed from Portuguese Japam / Japão with possible influence from Dutch Japan, both from Malay Jepang, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún), from Middle Chinese 日本 (nyit pwon^X, “sun origin”). With /j/ readings, such as Iaponia / Japonia / Japon / Iapon from possibly Cantonese 日本 (jat⁶ bun²), also from Middle Chinese 日本 (nyit pwon^X, “sun origin”).

Compare also modern Mandarin 日本 (Rìběn), Japanese 日本(にっぽ​ん) (Nippo​n) / 日本(にほ​ん) (Niho​n) (whence English doublets Nippon and Nihon), Korean 일본 (Ilbon) (日本), Vietnamese Nhật Bản (日本).

The earliest form of Japan in Europe was Marco Polo's Cipangu, from some form of synonymous Sinitic 日本國 / 日本国 (“Japan state”).

• (Received Pronunciation, General American, Australia) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəˈpæn/, (US, Canada, with æ-raising) [d͡ʒəˈpɛə̯n]

  • Audio (US):

    (file)

• (Standard Southern British, Northern England, Scotland, Wales) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəˈpan/

  • Audio (Standard Southern British):

    (file)

• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəˈpɛn/
• Rhymes: -æn

Japan

2. A country in East Asia. Capital and largest city: Tokyo.

   Synonyms: Dawnland, JP, JPN, Jap., Japonia, Jpn., Land of the Rising Sun, Nihon, (puristic) Nippon, State of Japan, Yamato

   • 1889 Jan., Oscar Wilde, The Decay of Lying: An Observation", The Nineteenth Century:

     Vivian: If you set a picture by Hokusai, or Hokkei, or any of the great native painters, beside a real Japanese gentleman or lady, you will see that there is not the slightest resemblance between them. The actual people who live in Japan are not unlike the general run of English people; that is to say, they are extremely commonplace, and have nothing curious or extraordinary about them. In fact the whole of Japan is a pure invention. There is no such country, there are no such people... if you desire to see a Japanese effect, you will not behave like a tourist and go to Tokio. On the contrary, you will stay at home and steep yourself in the work of certain Japanese artists, and then, when you have absorbed the spirit of their style, and caught their imaginative manner of vision, you will go some afternoon and sit in the Park or stroll down Piccadilly, and if you cannot see an absolutely Japanese effect there, you will not see it anywhere.

   • 1985 February, Steve Jobs, interview with David Sheff, Playboy:

     Japan’s very interesting. Some people think it copies things. I don’t think that anymore. I think what they do is reinvent things. They will get something that’s already been invented and study it until they thoroughly understand it. In some cases, they understand it better than the original inventor... That strategy works only when what they’re working with isn’t changing very much—the stereo industry and the automobile industry are two examples. When the target is moving quickly, they find it very difficult...

   • 2008 November 21, Graham Linehan, The IT Crowd, Season 3, Episode 1:

     Nolan: You do know Japan have expressed concern?
     Douglas: What, the whole country?
     Nolan: No, not the whole... Mr Yamamoto.
     Douglas: He's important, isn't he?
     Nolan: He's the major shareholder.

   • 2023 May 18, Reuters, “Chipmakers look to Japan as worries about China grow”, in CNN Business‎^[2]:

     In particular, Kumamoto prefecture in southwestern Japan is quickly becoming a hotbed for tech investment from companies including TSMC and Fujifilm Holdings Corp (FUJIF).

4. An archipelago of East Asia; in full, Japanese archipelago.

• 🗾
• Appendix:Countries of the world

• Japan on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Japan on Wikiquote.Wikiquote
• Japan on Wikivoyage.Wikivoyage
• Category:Japan on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Inherited from Dutch Japan, from Malay Jepang, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún), from Middle Chinese 日本 (nyit pwon^X, literally “sun origin”).

• Audio:

  (file)

Japan

1. Japan (a country in East Asia; capital: Tokio)

• Japannees
• Japanner
• Japans

Borrowed from English Japan.

Japan

1. Japan (a country in East Asia)

Borrowed from English Japan, from Portuguese Japão or Dutch Japan, from Malay Jepang, from Hokkien 日本.

• IPA^(key): /dʒaˈpan/

Japan

1. Japan (a country in East Asia)

   Synonym: Nihon

From Dutch Japan, from Malay Jepang, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún), from Middle Chinese 日本 (nyit pwon^X, literally “sun origin”).

Japan

1. Japan (a country in East Asia)

• japaner
• japansk

• → Faroese: Japan
• → Icelandic: Japan

From Malay Jepang, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún), from Middle Chinese 日本 (nyit pwon^X, literally “sun origin”).

• IPA^(key): /jaːˈpɑn/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Ja‧pan
• Rhymes: -ɑn

Japan n

1. Japan (a country in East Asia)

• Japanner
• Japans

From Danish Japan, from Dutch Japan, from Malay Jepang, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún), from Middle Chinese 日本 (nyit pwon^X, literally “sun origin”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈjaːpan/

Japan

1. Japan (a country in East Asia)

• japani, japanari
• japanskur

From Dutch Japan, from Malay Jepang, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún), from Middle Chinese 日本 (nyit pwon^X, literally “sun origin”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈjaːpan/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Japan n (proper noun, genitive Japans or (optionally with an article) Japan)

1. Japan (a country in East Asia)

   Synonym: Land der aufgehenden Sonne

• → Estonian: Jaapan
• → Finnish: Japani
• → Hungarian: Japán
• → Ladin: Iapan
• → Latvian: Japāna
• → Norwegian: Japan
• → Serbo-Croatian:
  • Cyrillic script: Јапан
  • Latin script: Japan
• → Yiddish: יאַפּאַן (yapan)
  • → Hebrew: יפן (yapan)

• Japaner
• Japanisch
• japanisch

• “Japan”, in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache‎^[3] (in German)
• “Japan” in Uni Leipzig: Wortschatz-Lexikon
• “Japan” in Duden online
• Japan on the German Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^de

From English Japan.

• IPA^(key): /(d)ʒà.pân/
  • (Standard Kano Hausa) IPA^(key): [d͡ʒə̀.pâŋ]

Jàpân f

1. Japan (a country in East Asia)

Borrowed from Danish Japan, from Dutch Japan, from Malay Jepang, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún), from Middle Chinese 日本 (nyit pwon^X, literally “sun origin”).

• IPA^(key): [ˈjaːpan]

Japan n (proper noun, genitive singular Japan or (rare) Japans)

1. Japan (a country in East Asia)

   Ég fer til Japans.

   I'm going to Japan.

   Hvar er Japan staðsett á kortinu?

   Where is Japan located on the map?

• Japani
• japanska

Japan

1. Rōmaji transcription of ジャパン

Internationalism, borrowed from German Japan, from Dutch Japan, from Malay Jepang, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún, “Japan”), from Middle Chinese 日本 (nyit pwon^X, “sun origin”). The Middle Chinese name is composed of 日 (nyit, “sun”) and 本 (pwon^X, “root, origin”), literally “origin of the sun”. These elements continue Old Chinese 日 (*njiɡ, “sun; day”) and 本 (*pɯːnʔ, “root; tree trunk”), respectively.

The name 日本 (nyit pwon^X) is attested as a designation for Japan from the seventh century, replacing the older name 倭. Portuguese Japão represents a parallel European borrowing from Malay rather than a stage in the German–Dutch route leading to the Norwegian form.

Compare the parallel international forms Danish Japan, Swedish Japan, German Japan and English Japan.

• IPA^(key): /¹jaˈpaːn/, [jaˈpàːn]
• Rhymes: -aːn
• Hyphenation: Ja‧pan

Japan

1. Japan; a country in East Asia, Asia, an island country in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with Tokyo as its capital.

   Hun studerte japansk i flere år før hun flyttet til Japan. ― She studied Japanese for several years before moving to Japan.

   • 2026 July 26, Nils Petter Thuesen, “Japan”, in Store norske leksikon‎^[4]:

     Japan er et keiserdømme i Øst-Asia.

     Japan is an imperial state in East Asia.

• The Norwegian short name and official name are both Japan.^[1]

From German Japan, from Dutch Japan, from Malay Jepang, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún), from Middle Chinese 日本 (nyit pwon^X, literally “sun origin”).

Japan

1. Japan (a country in East Asia)

• japanar
• japansk

From German Japan, from Dutch Japan, from Malay Jepang, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún), from Middle Chinese 日本 (nyit pwon^X, literally “sun origin”).

• IPA^(key): /jǎpaːn/
• Hyphenation: Ja‧pan

Jàpān m inan (Cyrillic spelling Ја̀па̄н, relational adjective jàpānskī, demonym Japánac, female demonym Jàpānka)

1. Japan (a country in East Asia)

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Japan

1. alternative form of Japani

From Dutch Japan, from Malay Jepang, from Hokkien 日本 (Ji̍t-pún), from Middle Chinese 日本 (nyit pwon^X, literally “sun origin”).

• IPA^(key): /¹jɑːpan/

• Audio:

  (file)

Japan n (genitive Japans)

1. Japan (a country in East Asia)

• japan
• japansk
• japanska

• “Japan”, in Svenska Akademiens ordlista [Wordlist of the Swedish Academy] (in Swedish)
• Svensk MeSH

• Siapan

Borrowed from English Japan.

Japan m (not mutable)

1. Japan (a country in East Asia)

• Japanead (“Japanese”, noun)
• Japaneaidd (“Japanese”, adjective)

• bras melyn Japan (“Japanese yellowhammer”)
• clymog Japan (“Japanese knotweed”)
• Japanead (“Japanese person”)
• Japaneaidd (“Japanese”, adjective)
• tewbig Japan (“Japanese hawfinch”)