Japan
proper noun
- sovereign state in East Asia, situated on an archipelago of five main and over 6,800 smaller islands
noun
No English definition recorded for this entry.
L23930 on Wikidata ↗verb
- coat with lacquer
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /d͡ʒəˈpæn/ / /d͡ʒəˈpan/ / /d͡ʒəˈpɛn/
name
Etymology: 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”).
- A country in East Asia. Capital and largest city: Tokyo.
“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.”
“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...”
- An archipelago of East Asia; in full, Japanese archipelago.
noun
Etymology: 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.
- A hard black enamel varnish containing asphalt.
“My own apartment, however, I was allowed to enter; and very pretty, I must say, it is. It is hung with Indian-silk, where the brightest of birds, and the gayest of flowers, disport themselves on a white ground. The screens and dressing-table are of black japan, while the mirror is set in exquisite silver filigree work, of which material are also the boxes of my toilette.”
- Lacquerware.
verb
Etymology: 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.
- To varnish (something) with japan.
“Among other monstrosities in this lumber room was a largeish black japanned box, excellently and ingeniously made some sixty or seventy years ago, and fitted with every imaginable object.”
“A Zoetrope in the same sale fetched 26 guineas. The revolving drum, 12 inches in diameter, was black japanned, on a turned wooden base, and there were many coloured strips.”
- To ordain (someone).
“Jack, hearing that I was in this part of the world, sent me a very hearty letter, informing me, that he had been double-japanned (as he called it) about a year ago, and was the present incumbent of — […]”