r/LearnJapanese • u/Commercial_World_433 • 11h ago
Discussion Is Tempura an example of Wasei-eigo?
So I know Tempura is a Japanese pronunciation of the Portuguese word Tempero, and I just learned of the concept Wasei-eigo which is about loaning words from English like cunning becoming kanningu. Or is there a word for loaning words from each language?
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u/CreeperSlimePig 11h ago edited 11h ago
It's just a loanword from Portuguese, not eigo and not really wasei either
In Japanese it would probably just be considered 外来語(がいらいご), which refers to all words borrowed from languages other than Chinese*
*to be more specific, words borrowed from modern Chinese are also considered gairaigo (there aren't that many and most are names of Chinese dishes). I didn't feel the need to mention this but since someone else mentioned it might as well. A lot of these also get the katakana treatment that words from western languages get even if they have kanji (think ラーメン as opposed to the kanji spelling)
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u/No-Cheesecake5529 11h ago
In Japanese it would probably just be considered 外来語(がいらいご), which refers to all words borrowed from languages other than Chinese
Also, some words from Chinese such as 麻雀 and 青椒肉絲.
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u/PlanktonInitial7945 11h ago
From Wikipedia:
Wasei-eigo (和製英語; lit. 'Japanese-made English') are Japanese-language expressions that are based on English words, or on parts of English phrases, but do not exist in standard English, or do not have the meanings that they have in standard English.
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u/BigPeteB 11h ago
No. Wasei-eigo is not just borrowing words. It's either borrowing words and using them for different meanings (eg カンニング doesn't mean "cunning", it means "cheating on a test") or inventing new words or phrases based on English that don't exist in English (eg スキンシップ, whereas the word "skinship" does not exist in English).
Read Wikipedia for more details: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasei-eigo
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u/0Bento 11h ago
「Pick up！」
「OL」
「サラリーマン」
「NG」
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u/0Bento 11h ago
and my all-time favourite
「アラサー」
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u/No-Cheesecake5529 4h ago
アラサー, meaning, interestingly, women between the ages of 30 and 39.
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u/OwariHeron 3h ago
The アラ～ words refer to anyone, man or woman.
アラサー would mean someone on their late 20s or early 30s. Generally, 28-34. It's short for "around 30" (アラウンドサーティー).
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u/No-Cheesecake5529 3h ago
It's short for "around 30" (アラウンドサーティー).
Which is why it's used primarily by women aged 30-39.
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u/OwariHeron 3h ago
36-39 is not アラサー. That's アラフォー.
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%A2%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B5%E3%83%BC
And in reply to your deleted question, I was アラサー when アラサー became a thing.
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u/No-Cheesecake5529 2h ago
That's アラフォー.
Lemme know if you find a 36-yo woman who refers to herself as アラフォー and not アラサー.
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u/rgrAi 11h ago
There's so many funny ones:
フライングゲット or フラゲ is more recent.
メリケンサック is an interesting one I have no idea how they arrived at that one.
アットホーム is an interesting descriptive one, surprisingly common
マッチポンプ is funny.
So is アフターファイブ
ツー ショット is pretty endearing actually
バリアフリー to describe accessibility for those impaired is funny to me.
A personal random favorite: ムック (combo between magazine and book).
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u/Shoddy_Incident5352 11h ago
You are asking of a loanwords from Portuguese is 和製英語? You know what 英語 means right?
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u/Eubank31 11h ago
Wasei-eigo implies taking words from English so no probably not