Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
name
A country in East Asia. Capital and largest city: Tokyo.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: Dawnland, JP, JPN, Jap., Japonia, Jpn., Land of the Rising Sun, Nihon, Nippon, State of Japan, Yamato
Antonyms: none provided
name
An archipelago of East Asia; in full, Japanese archipelago.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A hard black enamel varnish containing asphalt.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Lacquerware.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To varnish (something) with japan.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To ordain (someone).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: UK, obsolete, slang, transitive
Topics: lifestyle, religion
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
lacquer with a durable glossy black finish, originally from the orient
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: lacquer
noun
lacquerware decorated and varnished in the Japanese manner with a glossy durable black lacquer
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: lacquerware
noun
a string of more than 3,000 islands to the east of Asia extending 1,300 miles between the Sea of Japan and the western Pacific Ocean
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: Japanese Islands, Japanese Archipelago
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: archipelago
noun
a constitutional monarchy occupying the Japanese Archipelago; a world leader in electronics and automobile manufacture and ship building
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: Nippon, Nihon
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: Asian country, Asian nation
verb
coat with a lacquer, as done in Japan
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: lacquer
History
Etymology tree Hokkien 日本 /Ji̍t-púnbor. Malay Jepangbor. Portuguese Japãobor. ▲ Malay Jepangbor. Dutch Japanbor. English Japan 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) (Nippon) / 日本(にほん) (Nihon) (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”).
From Japan, due to this varnishing process being an imitation of East Asian processes. Sense “to ordain” in reference to the black clothes worn by the clergy.
Across languages
265 source translations are retained for this English entry.
